
Class 



J2_iZ ^ 



Copyright N 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE 
TEACHING OF READING 

A MANUAL 

TO ACCOMPANY 

EVERYDAY CLASSICS 
Third and Fourth Readers 

BY 

FRANKLIN T. BAKER 

PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH IN TEACHERS COLLEGE 

AND SUPERVISOR OF ENGLISH IN THE 

HORACE MANN SCHOOL 

AND 

ASHLEY H. THORNDIKE 

PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 



Nebj 2f0rfc 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
1917 

All rights reserved 



L2> iS73 
J 3 



Copyright, 1917, 
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up and electrotyped. Published April, 1917. 






APR 19(917 



J. S. dishing Co. — • Berwick & Smith Co. 
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



©GI.A4.60382 



V 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION 



Purpose of the Manual 

This Manual is offered to the teachers of the Everyday 
Classics in the hope that it may help them in the important 
work of teaching children to read intelligently and willingly. 
It offers hints on method, general and specific ; additional 
information about the selections and their authors, and 
about other literature and ideas that are properly associated 
with them ; suggestions for the proper interpretation of 
the selections ; and further hints for varying and enriching 
the study. 

The general title of this series of Readers is intended to 
be more than a name ; it is a description and a designation 
of their purpose. The title is meant to denote those things 
whose long established excellence has marked them out as 
classics, and, also, those classics which are so commonly 
known, so often referred to, as to be everyday, i.e. familiar 
and proverbial. In choosing basic reading matter for 
children, this familiarity, this fact of being accepted as 
everybody's material, is of the first importance. 

It would seem, therefore, that the series is based upon a 

valid principle and a vital need. The principle is that 

there is a considerable body of good literature, known to 

all people who know books, and simple enough to be under- 

b i 



2 THE TEACHING OF READING 

stood and enjoyed by children. Much of it, indeed, is of 
most value if read in childhood, and retained through life 
as a permanent influence upon one's attitude towards life. 
The need for such a series is seen in the fact that many 
children are put in touch with so little of this common 
heritage of the race. In the desire to find something new 
and different, many of the old and approved things have 
been pushed aside. 

A classic is something more easily known than defined. 
It is not necessarily abstruse, difficult, or remote from com- 
mon life. It is a piece of literature that has received the 
approval of good judges for a long enough time to make 
that approval settled. Like good music, it cannot grow 
old. It is last year's rag-time that becomes unpleasant, 
not the good old songs. A classic may be as old as Homer, 
or as new as Hawthorne ; it may be as difficult as Dante, 
or as simple as Mother Goose. Indeed, a large proportion 
of the classics of the world are very simple. In JEsop and 
Homer, and the old fairy tales, and many of the great 
stories of the world, like Robinson Crusoe, their simplicity 
is one of their highest merits. 

The educational worth of such material calls for no 
defense. In an age when the need of socializing and unify- 
ing our people is keenly felt, the value of a common stock 
of knowledge, a common set of ideals, is obvious. A people 
is best unified by being taught in childhood the best things 
in its intellectual and moral heritage. Our own heritage 
is, like our ancestry, composite. Hebrew, Greek, Roman, 
English, French, and Teutonic elements are blended in our 
cultural past. We draw from these and perpetuate what 
suits our composite racial and national spirit.. And an 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION 3 

introduction to the best of this is one of our ways of making 
good citizens. Not what we know only, but what we have 
felt and enjoyed, makes character. 

This series, by its very purpose, excludes "new" material. 
There is a place for that, but not in this plan. We have 
chosen what is common, established, almost proverbial ; 
what has become indisputably "classic"; what, in brief, 
every child in the land ought to know, because it is good 
and because other people know it. And it is well to re- 
member that what is old to us is new to the child. The 
Little Pigs That Went to Market, Little Red Riding Hood, 
Aladdin and His Lamp, Robin Hood, and the Gods of 
Olympus are to him fresh creations of the imagination, 
which open the door of an enchanted world. 

We should not look for novelties here, any more than 
we look for a new multiplication table. Though a selection 
may be centuries old, the children are new ; and the ex- 
perience of the child who comes to the old thing is as fresh 
as was our own experience when we first came to it. Is 
not the world itself a new thing to every child ? 

It is not argued that no new or modern material is to be 
read by the children. There is a rightful place for it, as 
supplementary reading, in school and outside. Many such 
things are recommended in this Manual. The school ought 
to be a sort of intermediary between the child and the public 
library. The librarians are among our most helpful and 
willing public servants. If the teachers will make sugges- 
tions, the librarians will carry them out in the purchase of 
books and in advice to the children. 

The Third Reader of this series is made up largely of 
folk-literature, — fables, fairy-stories, etc. It includes also 



4 THE TEACHING OF READING 

poetry of a simple type, like Stevenson's, and some of the 
stories that — like George Washington and his hatchet — 
are classic in substance, though not in form. 

The Fourth Reader continues the appeal to the fancy 
in imaginary stories of travel, such as Gulliver and Sindbad ; 
passes to a view of the world in which the imagination plays 
upon and beautifies fact in stories of out-of-door life and 
poems on nature ; and gives a good deal of space to stories 
of child life. A group of stories about brave or generous 
actions, a group of patriotic selections, and finally some 
humorous nonsense, complete the general scheme of this 
book. 

A survey of the material of the Fifth and the Sixth 
Readers is given on pages 97 and 147 of this Manual. 

On Methods 

It is well established that no one method is always the 
best. We do not speak of the method of teaching reading, 
but of methods of teaching. The best teaching is eclectic in 
its freedom of choice among devices, tactful in its adaptation 
of them to the situation in hand, and fertile in invention. 

In the third school year, it may be assumed that the pupils 
can read simple things without help, though not yet with 
fluency ; that they have skill enough in identifying words, 
— the printed symbols that convey ideas, — to set free a 
considerable part of their mental energies for taking in the 
meaning of a story, and that their control of phonics is suf- 
ficient to enable them to make out for themselves the pro- 
nunciation of new words of ordinary difficulty. But all of 
these processes are still in their elementary stages. Drill 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION 5 

in phonics and practice in making out words, in identifying 
them again, and in pronouncing and writing them, are still 
needed to insure the certainty and facility that make reading 
easy and pleasant. To this end, word lists, with the pro- 
nunciations simply indicated, and occasional definitions, 
have been freely inserted. These lists may often need to 
be extended by the teacher. It is of great importance in 
this year, however, to keep the emphasis upon the ideas 
read rather than upon the mechanical side of the work. 
It is this that supplies the interest and incentive. 

In the fourth year, there are still echoes of the primary 
drill in learning the symbols ; but, if the earlier work is 
well done, they are echoes only, and the class should read 
with considerable fluency and confidence. There is more 
study of the content, more reflection upon its significance, 
a wider range of interests, and better control of the faculties 
in general. This is commonly regarded as the transitional 
year, the year that separates the primary period from the 
upper elementary period, that demands of the pupil more 
conscious and concentrated effort and brings him more 
confidence in his own powers. The treatment of the read- 
ing lessons will be determined by these considerations. It 
will call for less questioning upon mere content, and for 
more questioning involving comparison and reflection. It 
will deal with larger units, and expect a firmer memory. 
It is the appropriate period for introducing the dictionary, 
for maintaining responsibility about spelling ordinary words, 
for clear and definite accounts of things read ; — in brief, 
it is the appropriate period for expecting the beginning of 
a workmanlike attitude towards study. 

In the fifth and later years the same widening of interests 



6 THE TEACHING OF READING 

and stiffening of standards should go on. The method of 
instruction will recognize and encourage the wider range of 
interests and the easier mastery of details. There will be 
more use of the dictionary, more acquaintance with proper 
names and their connotations, more related information 
from geography, history, contemporary events, other litera- 
ture, and life. 

It has been noted often that pupils who have learned to 
read aloud well in the fourth and fifth grades, read badly 
in the sixth and seventh. Just why this happens is not 
clear. It is not due to the discontinuance of oral reading, 
for this is not the practice of the schools ; nor to too much 
silent reading, for there is hardly enough of this. More 
probable is the theory that the self-consciousness of the 
growing boy and girl — especially of the boy — enters in 
as a disturbing factor. For this, the frequent use of sensible 
and interesting dramatic readings and performances is one 
of the best remedies. These should, indeed, be kept up 
throughout the entire course. The widespread acceptance 
of this principle is one of the good things in the modern 
school. 

Interpretation 

Questions upon the content of the things read by the 
children are constantly needed. Such questions are for the 
benefit of the children rather than for the information of the 
teacher. It is by them that the young reader can tell 
whether he has got the thought of what he has read. Ques- 
tions have, therefore, been put after almost all the selections ; 
other questions may and should be asked by the teacherwhere 
necessary. But questions should not be over-analytic, or 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION 7 

meticulous, or trivial. They should have in view the bring- 
ing out of the real meaning and spirit of the selection. 
And whatever meaning it is sought to bring out should be, 
to the certain knowledge of the teacher, within the compre- 
hension of the child. 

Some selections should be questioned upon sparingly, 
or not at all. The humorous old nursery jingle, "When 
I Was a Bachelor," is of this sort. So are some of the 
lyrics, like "Lady Moon," which are to be read, and re- 
read, until the reading is easy, to be sung perhaps, and 
memorized. Some selections, like "Mother Frost" and the 
Christmas dinner from the Christmas Carol, invite discussion 
and application of their ideas to daily life. Some are, like 
the pictures of School Life in the Fifth Reader, interpreta- 
tions of a kind of life outside the experience of the children 
of to-day. These call for imagination and understanding. 
Others are properly allowed to remain wholly in the dream- 
land of imagination. It would be, indeed, with any piece 
of literature, a lamentable error to surround it with question 
and analysis to the point of making pupils think it only a 
thing to ask questions about. 

Moralizing 

Moralizing, in connection with literature, is in grave dis- 
repute, — a disrepute not wholly undeserved. To draw a 
moral from Browning's "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" or 
from Lewis Carroll's "The Mad Tea Party" is to make one- 
self ridiculous ; for these selections, like many others in this 
series, were written to amuse children, not to instruct them. 
They are humorous literature. To tag a moral to them is as 



8 THE TEACHING OF READING 

absurd as to tag one to Mark Twain's story of the "Jumping 
Frog of Calaveras." Children have, oftener than we realize, 
some dim perception that the teacher isn't playing fair in 
lugging in some of these morals ; and her influence suffers 
correspondingly. On the other hand, the moral is often 
perfectly in place. It may be ethical in a high sense, as in 
some of Andersen's best stories, or in some of the tales of 
chivalry and the stories of self-sacrifice ; or it may be merely 
prudential, as in most of the fables, in Franklin's writings, 
in common proverbs. Now the child doesn't object to 
moralizing, as such ; he is a highly moral little being, at 
least theoretically. And he is willing enough to discuss the 
morality of what he reads, — if it's there. But he does 
object, and ought to object, to having it invented and the 
invention palmed off on him as real. We teachers need in 
this matter to obey two injunctions : Be intelligent, and 
play fair. 

Dramatizing 

A dramatic situation in a story is an interesting oppor- 
tunity for the teacher. For example, the shepherd boy in 
the fable confronted by his neighbors after his practical 
joke has led to the loss of his flock ; or the meeting of the 
husband and wife after his disastrous attempt at keeping 
the house ; or the scene where the king and all the castle 
in "The Sleeping Beauty" wake up, — these and many 
like situations can be turned to account by letting the 
children "act them out," as they say. Many of the selec- 
tions in the later books are dramatic in form. These should 
be so read, and, if the teacher and the class wish, acted. 
It would be well to have the class on the lookout for dramatic 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION 9 

situations in all the reading, as, for example, in the parting of 
Douglas and Marmion. Such interests will almost certainly 
enlist the voluntary cooperation of the class, quicken their 
interest in these old stories, stimulate their imaginations, 
and develop more freedom in the use of language. Many 
of these opportunities have been indicated in the notes. 
Others may be selected by the teacher. But it is, as we 
have just said, especially important that the children them- 
selves be stimulated to find such situations. 

Confidence and Interest 

The reading of the third year in school should not only 
quicken and widen the interests of the pupils, but should 
bring them to that point of skill and confidence at which 
reading ceases to be labor. To this end, there should be a 
good deal of re-reading of the best things. No selection 
should be considered finished until it is read well, that is, 
with ease, confidence, and expression, and with a grasp of its 
meaning and spirit. This does not imply that the repeti- 
tions must be immediate and in unbroken series. It may 
often be better done by returning to a selection after an 
interval of reading other things. Such a return is a surer 
way, too, of fixing things in the memory. 

Order of Selections 

The selections have been carefully graded. Practically 
all of them have been repeatedly and successfully used in 
the grades for which they are here presented. They are 
arranged with reference also to some dominant interest, or 
some type, as a glance at the Tables of Contents will show. 



io THE TEACHING OF READING 

For a class not quite up to the average of its grade, some 
variation in this order, having in. mind solely the order of 
difficulty, may be desirable. Such orders for the various 
Readers are suggested in this Manual. Whatever order 
may be followed, it is important that the children be in- 
vited often to compare things in different parts of the book 
and in the different books ; be reminded of what they have 
already read, and of its likeness to, or difference from, what 
they are reading at the time. 

Reading Aloud 

Good oral reading is an object always desired and sel- 
dom attained to the satisfaction of any teacher. The 
grounds of its value have shifted. Now that reading- 
matter is so abundant that every one has his own book or 
periodical to read for himself, he cares less to be read to. 
But reading aloud is still one of the best tests of a pupil's 
grasp of the language and the meaning ; is often the best 
way of bringing out the humor, or the dramatic vividness, 
or the rhythmic cadences of the style either in verse or prose. 
If the child reads stumblingly, he needs more training, more 
drill. If he reads inaudibly, he needs a sense of his obliga- 
tion to his audience ; if he reads monotonously, he needs to 
have a quickening of his sense of the meaning, by appropriate 
questions and suggestions. Let us take an example : — 

The owl and the pussy cat went to sea 
In a beautiful pea-green boat. 

The teacher may wish to show how we may change our 
manner of saying things. 

"Who went to sea ?" "The owl and the pussy cat went 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION II 

to sea." "In what did they go to sea?" "They went to 
sea in a beautiful pea-green boat" "What color was the 
boat?" "It was a pea-green boat." And so, with a little 
ingenious questioning, the dead level of monotony in read- 
ing can be displaced by intelligent emphasis. 

Poetry is admittedly harder to read aloud than prose. 
Often it is read as prose, with no sense of the rhythm — 
which is a very wrong way to read poetry ; or, it tends to 
become a sing-song, with the shades of emphasis that con- 
vey the meaning quite left out. Such simple verse as Books 
Three and Four contain are not difficult to read. But even 
for these simple rhythms, the pupil needs help. His best 
helps are (i) command of the diction so that he does not 
hesitate or stumble, (2) an understanding of what he reads, 
and (3) a good model. These things the teacher must 
secure. By questioning and telling, she can make the mean- 
ing clear; by reading the poem, she can give the class the 
swing of the verse. If she reads well, or even passably well, 
she will find the class improving by imitating her. In 
some of its aspects, good reading aloud is as much a matter 
of imitation as is talking ; and we all know to what extent 
tones of voice, accent, emphasis, and all tricks of speech 
are due to unconscious imitation. 

The poetry of the later books is generally harder to read 
aloud, because the emphasis is less simple and obvious. 
But much of it is of the energetic, declamatory type (like 
Scott's "Breathes there a man with soul so dead") that 
children can do very well. The best types of poetry for the 
purpose of reading aloud are those that have (1) a marked 
and simple rhythm and (2) those of a somewhat resonant 
and oratorical type. 



12 THE TEACHING OF READING 

Silent Reading 

But reading aloud is only a small part of the reading we 
do. Most of it is silent reading, for the sake of the story 
or the meaning. It is to this end that pupils are to be 
tested on what they have read, questioned on the main 
drift and on the more important details. A basis of judg- 
ment in this work is given in the Thorndike and other 
"Reading Scales," which are studies of the speed and in- 
telligence in reading shown by children in the several grades. 
They are attempts at establishing a norm, or scale, of skill 
and power in reading. 

Naturally the children in the same grade will differ a 
good deal ; and the careful teacher will give special attention 
to those that have difficulty in getting the thought from the 
printed page. She will help them to realize that "the art 
of reading is the art of getting stories from books." It will 
be kept in mind that silent reading does not interfere with 
good oral reading, but is an excellent preparation for it. 

Assignment of Lessons 

There is no fixed rule of procedure in the assignment of, 
or preparation for, a reading lesson. Sometimes there must 
be a preliminary explanation of the circumstances under 
which the story occurred, or some hint as to the topic or 
the point of view of a selection. For example, the teacher 
may give a brief account of the circumstances preceding 
Gulliver's landing in Lilliput, and a comment on the general 
nature of the book ; or an account of William Tell and the 
Swiss struggle for liberty ; or the circumstances preceding 
the Cratchit dinner; or, before reading the "Old Gaelic 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION 13 

Lullaby" or Tennyson's "Sweet and Low," an explanation 
of what is meant by a lullaby : — some comment that will 
prepare the minds of the children, and arouse an interest 
in the thing to be read. Introductory assistance of this 
sort is given sometimes in the Reader, sometimes in this 
Manual. It may be given to the class the day before, or 
an hour before, or a moment before, the actual reading. 
It should be, not in learned terms, but in language that 
brings it at once within the child's range. As, for example, 
"The Dog and the Shadow" might merely have the com- 
ment, "This is the story of a dog whose greediness lost 
him his dinner," or "The Emperor's New Clothes" might 
be introduced with the comment, "It is a funny story of 
how a silly and vain king and his court officers were made 
fools of." Or, in many cases, there may well be no intro- 
ductory comment whatever. The teacher must judge for 
herself; she, better than any one else, knows what initial 
help or stimulus her class needs. 

Sometimes the class will need to study a few of the difficult 
words before attempting to read the selection. Teachers 
are divided on this point. Some argue that the natural 
way is to explain a word when we come to it and feel the 
need of explanation ; that it is a needless burden to the 
memory to carry a lot of words not yet seen in their context, 
where alone their significance can be really felt. Here 
again there can be no absolute rule ; probably a blending 
of both plans is best. 

The assignment may be made from yet another point of 
view. It may have a definitely intellectual object ; may 
be a task, a "problem." For example, the fable of "The 
Milkmaid and her Pail " embodies a definite bit of common 



14 THE TEACHING OF READING 

wisdom which is also embodied in a familiar proverb. The 
pupil might be told to read the fable to himself, then turn 
to the list of proverbs on page 36 and pick one that fits 
the fable. He might be asked to tell all the hints that the 
Ugly Duckling is not a duck, but something finer. He 
might, and should, be asked sometimes to suggest titles 
for the sections of a story, as in "The Ugly Duckling," 
"Mother Frost," "The Sleeping Beauty," "Tom and the 
Lobster," "Maggie and the Gypsies," " Cosette," etc. 
These questions might, however, be asked with equal ap- 
propriateness after the reading is done. An important 
essential in these assignments is that they should stick close 
to the subject matter and spirit of the selection. 

Word Lists 

For the convenience of both teacher and pupil, the lists 
of words for study in these Readers are put immediately 
after the selection, or section of a selection, in which they 
occur. These lists are chosen with reference to three prin- 
ciples : (1) the difficulty of form, either as to pronunciation 
or spelling; (2) the need of definition or explanation; 
(3) the opportunity of suggesting a synonym. As to the 
first principle, there is no objection to the child's attention 
being called to what he already knows ; it is only by repeti- 
tion of the act of attention to these forms that they become 
permanently fixed in his memory. The second principle 
cannot be completely carried out in books of this size ; 
some things must be left for the teacher to do, wherever 
she sees the need of them. The third object, that of help- 
ing the child to vary the expression when he tells the story, 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION 15 

will commend itself to any good teacher. It is an exercise, 
moreover, in which children especially delight. The Lists of 
Synonyms at the end of the Third and Fourth Readers will 
be found useful for this purpose. In the higher Readers an 
extensive pronouncing glossary is supplied. The pupils are 
referred to this for the study of words given in the footnotes. 
Such practice is a sort of training in the use of the dictionary. 

Diacritical Marks 

English spelling is neither phonetic nor consistent. When 
we remember that the forty-five or so of English letter- 
sounds have only twenty-six letters by which they can be 
represented, it is obvious that the learner must have some 
additional symbols as guides. The plural of hat ends in a 
pure s sound ; that of boy ends with the sound of z. The 
ng in singer represents a different sound from the same thing 
in finger. The letter a has at least six distinct sounds as 
commonly used in this country, represented in such words 
as fate, fat, fare, far, fall, and separate. Hence the need of 
these additional symbols, or diacritical marks. A simplified 
list, the minimum that can be made to serve, is given in the 
"Key to Pronunciation" in each volume of this series. 
The early introduction, and the daily use, of such a key, 
as applied in the word lists, should soon give the pupil a 
sense of independence in making out new words. From 
this, the transition to the use of the dictionary itself, say in 
the fourth year, should be natural and easy. In every 
grade above the third, a dictionary, not so large as to be 
unwieldy physically or confusing mentally, should be acces- 
sible to the children. Encouragement and training in the 
use of it will repay the teacher's efforts. 



16 THE TEACHING OF READING 

Helps to Study 

To almost all of the lessons have been added study guides 
for the children. These include lists of words and phrases 
for special attention, and under the title, Helps to Study, ex- 
planations of the setting or drift of the selection, questions 
to help the pupil get at the meaning, and, in many cases, 
some biographical notes about the author. These are not 
intended to be definitive and final. The teacher may fre- 
quently see the need of varying them, omitting some things 
and supplying others. They are suggestive, rather, of what 
the authors regard as a normal kind of treatment of reading 
with children of these grades. 

Pictures 

The illustrations have been made or selected with great 
care, not only for the sake of making the books attractive 
but for their interpretation of the spirit of the text. They 
may therefore often be used as a part of the teaching appa- 
ratus. The pupils may be asked to find and describe the 
things in the pictures which they have read in the selection ; 
this makes a good lesson in oral English. They should be 
encouraged to select other passages of the selections which 
they would like to see put in a picture ; this helps them to 
use their imaginations. 

Biography 

A certain amount of biography of authors read is an im- 
portant adjunct to the study of literature. We have, 
therefore, put into these Readers brief biographical notes, 
increasing in number and in length in the successive volumes 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION 17 

of the series. In the Third Reader there are only brief 
comments in the guides to the children ; in the Fourth 
Reader, several biographical lessons, of one or two pages 
each, with occasional notes on other authors ; in the Fifth 
and Sixth Readers, more and longer treatment of authors, 
both in the independent lessons and in the notes. For all 
the books there are incidental notes of a biographical nature 
offered here and there in the Manual. 

Our procedure is an attempt to answer properly three im- 
portant questions : (1) What kind of biographical informa- 
tion is interesting and comprehensible to young children ? 
(2) What authors are important enough to merit such 
study? (3) What facts in their lives are related to their 
writings in a way that young people can understand ? 

It is certain that the lives of authors are not usually 
interesting to young readers ; they cannot equal the appeal 
made by the exploits of heroes, travelers, inventors, or by 
the self-made men who have climbed to wealth and prom- 
inence in the realms of industry and commerce. What 
biographical material, then, is pertinent to our purpose ? 
Stevenson the traveler, good fellow, writer of tales and of 
books for children; Lewis Carroll, lover and playfellow 
of children, ingenious inventor of amusing devices and 
stories full of wisdom and nonsense ; — such figures are 
interesting to little folk. Later, they can begin to learn 
about authors for their importance in the world of literature, 
and not merely for their peculiar personal appeal. Hence 
they read brief lives of Hawthorne, Tennyson, Scott, etc. 

There is a popular superstition abroad that any amount 
and any kind of biographical material fosters the love of 
reading. Nothing could be further from the truth. To 



1 8 THE TEACHING OF READING 

load up the minds of the children with facts about the lives 
of obscure, and to them uninteresting, people, will result 
only in distaste, speedy forgetting, and the displacement of 
things which they might assimilate. The teacher will bear 
this in mind even in handing out such information as she 
has, and such as is supplied in the Manual. She will give 
it incidentally, and only when it is apropos, not as inevitable. 
She will consider the class, its receptivity and its capacity 
to absorb information. But above all, she will not make 
the mistake of withholding things because the duller half 
of the class cannot take them. 

Music 

The lyric was originally a song. In some instances, as in 
Tennyson's "Sweet and Low," Barnby's melody is almost as 
well known as the poem itself. It has seemed desirable to 
print a number of suitable melodies in order that the 
children may sing the song as well as read it. The editors 
are indebted to Miss Bertha Clements, Supervisor of Music, 
Public Schools, East Orange, N. J., and Mr. William H. 
Kraft of Teachers College, Columbia University, for the 
arrangements of these melodies. 



THIRD READER 

The Third Reader is the point of entrance upon free and 
easy reading of some of the world's best old stories. The 
motto of the volume, borrowed from Hugh Miller, the great 
Scotch geologist, "The art of reading is the art of finding 
stories in books," may be taken by the teacher as the 
key to the situation. If the children come to realize the 
delight of passing easily through print into this old story- 
world, her work will be not only successful but pleasant and 
easy. 

The material falls into certain groups, whose dominant 
themes and interests are about as follows : — 

I. Fables and Poems 

II. Fairy Tales and Poems 

III. Stories about Home and Child-Life 

IV. Old Stories and Poems 
V. Nonsense 

The poetic selections, most of which belong logically under 
the third of these divisions, have, however, been interspersed 
at intervals throughout the book. Reading poetry in blocks 
is not the best way. It should be taken now and then, and, 
by little children, in small doses. A good deal of it should 
be memorized ; and that which is set to music should be 
sung. 

19 



20 THE TEACHING OF READING 

For a class that does not yet read as well as is commonly 
expected of a Third Grade, it might be well to vary the 
order of the selections ; for example, the following order 
will afford an easier gradation in diction and ideas : — 

1. Wynken, Blynken, and Nod 9. Sweet and Low 

2. The Fables 10. The Husband Who Kept House 

3. Little Red Riding Hood 11. The Town Musicians 

4. The Lost Doll 12. The Three Wishes 

5. Little Birdie 13. The Little Match Girl 

6. The Princess and the Pea 14. " One, Two, Three " 

7. Mother Frost 15. Five Peas in One Pod 

8. Tom Tit Tot 16. Windy Nights 

Then the teacher may return to the beginning of the 
book, reading everything straight through in regular order. 
The re-reading of the easier selections already known to the 
class will have the good effect of increasing their confidence 
and pleasure in reading ; and it will have a wholesome effect 
on the spirit in which they attack new work. On this 
second reading of the repeated selections, the slower mem- 
bers of the class should be given precedence in opportunity. 



I. FABLES AND POEMS 

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod, by Eugene Field 

This is a pretty and deservedly popular poem by a man 
who knew the hearts of children. Its materials are the 
common, domestic things of the nursery at bedtime : the 
shoes, the cradle, the drowsy head, and sleepy eyes. Its 
name and the wooden shoes are an association with the 
Dutch stories about children — -quite possibly suggested 



THIRD READER 21 

by the popularity of books for children about life in Hol- 
land, such, for example, as Hans Brinker. The explanation 
of the terms of the title is given in the last stanza. 

The teacher may begin by saying to the class that they 
are going to read a bed-time poem, a sort of fairy tale in 
poetry. Then she might read the poem aloud, allowing the 
children to follow it in their texts, or by the ear alone, as 
each prefers. After this, the class might take up, quite 
briefly, the words likely to give trouble, and some volunteers 
might read the poem aloud. The class could then be asked 
the questions under Helps to Study. 

Next in order would be the biographical note following 
the poem, read preferably by the teacher, some further 
comment or information about Field, and finally the reading 
aloud by the teacher of one of the other poems by Field 
mentioned on page 14 of the Reader. 

A return to the poem for a brief re-reading, by the class, 
might be the best opportunity for suggesting that the poem 
is good enough to commit to memory. This ought to be, 
not a requirement, but a recommendation. 



Fab 



LES 



^sop's Fables (15) l 

The group of fables here given can be best considered 
collectively as to their general import and value. Although 
each fable is an independent unit, it is their common quali- 
ties that make them significant. 

These stories are very old, many of them probably older 
than what we call civilization. Some of them have been 

1 The page of the book on which the selection is found. 



22 THE TEACHING OF READING 

found on Babylonian bricks of 2000 B.C., or earlier; "The 
Lion and the Mouse " was found on an Egyptian papyrus 
dating from about 1200 b. c. ; and others occur in the old- 
est literature of China and India. It is believed that they 
were handed on by oral tradition centuries before they were 
put down in writing. They have every mark of great an- 
tiquity. They present the primitive virtues and powers 
of a primitive people : courage, skill, shrewdness, practical 
wisdom, — just the virtues upon which the life of individuals 
and tribes depended. They show the same admiration that 
children and savages show for qualities we hold in common 
with animals. They are troubled by no incredulity in en- 
dowing animals with the reasoning powers of men ; and it is 
a fair guess that in the earliest telling of them, many of the 
hearers accepted the tales as facts, while they drew from them 
the intended lessons of wisdom and morality. 

No one knows whether JEsop, who retold these stories, 
was a real person, or whether he is imaginary. The tra- 
dition is that he was an Ethiopian slave, ugly, witty and 
shrewd, — whose Athenian master gave him his liberty as 
a reward for his wit. (There is a well-known imaginary 
picture of him, by the great Spanish painter, Velasquez. 
It is sold by the Perry Pictures Company.) He is said to 
have lived about the seventh century B.C. The versions of 
the fables attributed to him were gathered and written 
down in Athens about 300 b.c. ; and the Athenians later 
erected a statue to his memory. 

Later, about the beginning of the Christian era, there was 
a Latin version ; and in modern times a French version by 
La Fontaine and an English version by John Gay. These 
are both in poetic form. An excellent English edition in 



THIRD READER 23 

prose, by Joseph Jacobs (London, 1889), contains a good 
introduction, dealing with the history and nature of the 
fable. 

The teacher will naturally be reminded of modern books 
presenting animals as endowed with human qualities ; as, 
for example, Kipling's Jungle Books and Just So Stories. 

Objection to the fables has been made (e.g., in Felix 
Adler's The Moral Instruction of Children) that they are 
not on a high moral plane : that they are sinister and cruel, 
that they teach only the prudential virtues, and set no high 
ideals. This is partly true. But the prudential virtues are 
also necessary : wisdom, self-restraint, common sense are 
as much needed now as ever ; nor do they interfere with 
the higher virtues. There is little danger that the pupil 
will adopt the unlovely traits for his own, merely because 
he has read about them. In reading " The Fox and the 
Crow," he will think of the folly of the crow more than the 
slyness of the fox ; in " Town Mouse and Country Mouse " 
he will admire the common sense of the country mouse, not 
the " airs " of the town mouse. He will, in short, be inclined 
to rate things at their true values. 

Not much time should be spent on any one fable. Each 
of them should be read, correctly and easily ; the teacher 
should make sure that the pupils have got the incident, 
the situation, and the point of the fable. If she, or the 
pupils, can sum up the meaning in a sentence, or fit a 
proverb to it, the point will " stick " better. If the fable 
is casually referred to in some connection arising later, 
it will " stick " better still. It is this frequency of refer- 
ence to the old things that makes them so well known 
to us all. 



24 THE TEACHING OF READING 

Many of them can be brought home to the child's own 
experience. The minor faults and vices which they present 
are things the children understand quite well. Most chil- 
dren have, like the Shepherd Boy, engaged in mischief just 
to " start something " ; or have selfishly hung on to some- 
thing like the "Dog in the Manger"; or pretended they 
didn't care, when they couldn't get something they wanted, 
like the Fox about the grapes ; — the list of applications can 
easily be extended. But this personal application should 
be made in a humorous rather than a censorious manner. 

Some parallel proverbs are given in the text. Here are a 
few more: For the " Dog in the Manger": Live and let 
live. For " The Dog and the Shadow " : Look before you 
leap. For " The Hare and the Tortoise " : Lost time is 
never found again. For " The Goose with the Golden 
Eggs " : Leave well enough alone ; or Much wants more 
and loses all. For " The Lion and the Mouse " : One good 
turn deserves another. For " The Ants and the Grass- 
hopper " : He that will not work must want. For " The 
Fox and the Crow " : Fair words make fools glad. 

Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac, or some other col- 
lection of common proverbs, such as Hazlitt's English 
Proverbs, or Bohn's English Proverbs, will afford interesting 
fields for this sport of proverb-hunting. But of course this 
business of pairing proverbs and fables must not be over- 
worked, or the children will tire of it. Nor will the obscure 
proverbs do. Many of them are cryptic and figurative, — 
condensed pellets not easily assimilated by the young. 



THIRD READER 25 

Poems 

The Wind, by Christina Rossetti (26) 

This poem needs little or no explanation. A brief talk 
between teacher and class of the visible effects of the wind, 
of the feel of it, and the sounds of it, and the wonder of it, 
would make an appropriate introduction. This talk, we 
need hardly say, is not to be technical or scientific, but to 
deal with such common impressions as children have. Then 
should come the reading, and then the singing. The music 
provided in the text is that of an old French melody, Au 
Claire de la Lune (In the Light of the Moon). 

The author, Christina Rossetti, was the daughter of an 
Italian patriot who had been compelled to flee from Italy 
in 1822 because of his patriotic songs and other activities 
displeasing to a tyrannical government. He settled in 
England, married a woman of English and Italian descent, 
and brought up his family there. There were two brothers, 
Dante Gabriel and William Michael Rossetti, who were also 
poets, the former being the author of the famous poem 
" The Blessed Damozel." Christina wrote a good deal of 
poetry notable for its delicacy, and its fineness of feeling. 
She also wrote two volumes of poetry for children : Sing 
Song and The Goblin Market. These the teacher might well 
keep on her table, to read from occasionally. 

Bed in Summer, by Robert Louis Stevenson (38) 

Begin by drawing out briefly from the children their feel- 
ings about going to bed and getting up when they'd rather 
not. Then have the children read the poem. Suggest 



26 THE TEACHING OF READING 

committing it to memory. Work with them in the memo- 
rizing, showing them (i) that the first stanza has just two 
ideas, (2) that the second stanza continues the last idea of 
the first stanza, telling (a) just what the boy sees and (b) 
what he hears, and (3) that the third stanza is his com- 
plaint about it. Try to show that committing to memory 
is not blind rote work, but that things come in order, 
and that the work is easy if they tone the order and see 
what they are about. This work might proceed about as 
follows : — 

Teacher: "What does the boy say he has to do in winter ? " 

Class: "He gets up at night; that is, before it is light." 

Teacher: " What else ? " 

Class: " He dresses by candle light." 

Teacher: "Very good. Now, tell me all he says about it." 

Class: Responds by giving the whole of the two lines. 

Teacher: " How about summer ? " 

Class: "He goes to bed by day." 

Teacher: " Now tell me all of that at once." 

Class: Responds by giving the two lines. 

Teacher: " Now give me, without stopping, all he says 
about going to bed in winter and in summer." 

Class: Responds by giving the four lines. 

These responses, it is assumed, may be sometimes from 
individual pupils, sometimes in concert. 

In this manner the teacher may proceed through the poems, 
bringing in with the second and third stanzas that which 
preceded them. Do not forget to review now and then 
the poems thus committed to memory. It is only by reviews 
that they can be made a permanent possession. 



THIRD READER 27 

II. FAIRY TALES AND POEMS (49) 

The world of fairy tales is large. Every race with even 
the beginnings of a civilization has its own stock, — many 
of them being so obviously like those found in other lands 
that students of ethnology and folklore have speculated 
much upon these resemblances. A good popular discus- 
sion of this point is found in the Introduction by Andrew 
Lang to the Bohn Library edition of Grimms' Fairy Tales. 
Other treatments of the range and nature of fairy tales 
may be found in Steele's Tales of the Punjab (Macmillan), 
Lang's Introduction to Perrault's Popular Tales (Oxford), 
Moses's Children's Books and Reading. Kready's Study of 
Fairy Tales (Houghton) contains full and helpful bibli- 
ographies, and extended studies upon the various aspects 
of the fairy story. For the teacher's own satisfaction, and 
for supplementary material to read or tell to the children, 
the following books will be found helpful : Bryant's How 
to Tell Stories to Children (Houghton) and Stories to 
Tell to Children (Houghton) ; Jacobs' Celtic Fairy Tales 
(Putnam) ; McManus's Irish Fairy Tales (Doubleday) ; 
Jacobs's English Fairy Tales (Putnam) ; Grimms' Fairy 
Tales (Macmillan) ; Perrault's French Fairy Tales. The 
list might be increased by the stories of many other races. 
Good lists of fairy stories are furnished by the Boston, 
Pittsburgh, and other public libraries. 

A caution should be entered here against the tendency 
(found in some. studies of the nature and meaning of fairy 
tales) to make too much of the moral and symbolic inter- 
pretations. It may be that in " Snow-White and Rose-Red," 
for example, the disguised prince symbolizes sunshine and 



28 THE TEACHING OE READING 

spring temporarily eclipsed by winter, that the dwarf means 
winter, and the cutting off of his beard the cutting down of 
winter month by month, — and so on. But this interpre- 
tation is, to say the least, a very doubtful one. And it is 
pretty easy to run into absurdities if one goes far on these 
lines. Moreover, children are not much interested in 
these hidden meanings. It is safer to ignore this field al- 
together than to go too far into it. 

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat, by Edward Lear (49) 

Edward Lear (1812-1888), though an artist, ornitholo- 
gist, and prose writer, is best known by his Nonsense Book 
in verse, published in 1846. His favorite form of verse is 
the limerick. One of his best known is 

There was an old man who said, "How 
Shall I flee from this terrible cow ? 

I will sit on this stile 

And continue to smile, 
Which may soften the heart of the cow." 

Obviously such selections as these need neither serious 
nor thorough study. "The Owl and the Pussy-Cat" is fan- 
tastic nonsense, something between a fable and a fairy tale. 
If it is to be read, the words must be understood ; and if it 
is to be enjoyed, it must be read easily. The best approach 
to it probably is to have the teacher first read it aloud, the 
class following with their books open. Next the unusual 
words will be considered briefly, and then the pupils will 
read the poem, — each reader taking an entire stanza. 
The Helps to Study will be used after the reading. Finally 
the class will sing the poem to George Ingraham's old and 
appropriate air printed in the text. 



THIRD READER 29 

Little Red Riding Hood, by the Grimm Brothers (54) 

No other preparation or introduction is needed for this 
story than that printed under the title in the Reader. But 
the teacher may like to add : " It is a story of a little girl 
who went through the woods on an errand, met a wolf, and 
had an exciting adventure." 

In the true version, the wolf swallows the grandmother 
and then leaping out of bed swallows Little Red Riding 
Hood also, though both are extricated and come out as 
unhurt as Jonah, — as any one may see by looking into 
Grimms' Fairy Tales. We have modified the story, however, 
out of deference to the fear held by many people that chil- 
dren have the same shrinking from gruesome details as we 
elders have. As a matter of fact, most children take to the 
gruesome quite kindly and genially, after the manner of 
other primitive folk. It might interest the teacher who 
has an inquiring mind to see which version the children 
like best; the experiment will do the children no harm, if 
the gruesomeness is not " rubbed in." 

The simple dramatic experiment suggested in the Helps 
to Study ought to be tried. Let the children take the initi- 
ative. At most, the teacher's function in this work is that 
of guide and adviser. 

The Fairies, by William Allingham (63) 

This familiar poem affords an excellent opportunity to 
give children a sense of rhythm, because the stresses in the 
lines are emphatic, and the lines move trippingly. Pupils 
will feel the fitness of the rhythm to the theme, — the trip- 
ping, dancing fairies. 



3° 



THE TEACHING OF READING 



The third and fourth lines express the popular belief, still 
surviving in Ireland and elsewhere, that the fairies are 
angry if interrupted or spied upon by mortals. The 
second stanza has some fanciful notions as to their habits. 
The third stanza contains another bit of popular supersti- 
tion about them : what pranks they play upon people 
who displease them. A part of the original poem is omitted 
here, as being too difficult. The teacher may read to the 
class these omitted lines. They begin after the second 
stanza and are as follows : — 



High on the hill-top 

The old king sits; 

He is now so old and gray 

He's nigh lost his wits. 

With a bridge of white mists 

Columbkill he crosses, 

On his stately journeys 

From Slieveleague to Rosses; 

Or going up with music 

On cold, starry nights, 

To sup with the queen 

Of the gay Northern Lights. 



They stole little Bridget 
For seven years long; 
When she came down again 
Her friends were all gone. 
They took her lightly back 
Between the night and morrow; 
They thought that she was fast alseep, 
But she was dead with sorrow. 
They have kept her ever since 
Deep within the lakes, 
On a bed of flag-leaves, 
Watching till she wakes. 



There is an anonymous old song, probably one of the 
seventeenth century expressions of loyalty to the exiled 
Stuart prince (later Charles II), from the last stanza of 
which Allingham got the movement and phrasing for this 
poem. The title of the poem is " Charlie is My Darling," 
and the last stanza runs : — 

It's up yon heathery mountain, 
And down yon scroggy glen, 
We daurna gang a milking, 
For Charlie and his men. 



THIRD READER 31 

And Charlie he's my darling, 

My darling, my darling; 
Charlie he's my darling, 

The young chevalier ! 

Cinderella (66) 

This is a familiar motif in the fairy story, — the appeal 
to our sense of poetic justice in having the abused and 
despised step-child, or youngest child, come into greater 
prosperity and happiness than the rest. Its counterpart is 
a familiar thing in the child's day-dreams ; by some magic 
or some happy chance, or by his deserts, he becomes rich, 
or famous, or universally beloved. That the modern child 
thinks of his supreme good fortune in modern terms — 
translating the disguised prince into, say a league baseball 
pitcher or a star actress in the moving pictures — -does not 
alter the essential facts. A teacher who has won the class 
enough to make them talk freely to her can easily get con- 
fession of such dreams, — which would be an excellent 
introduction to the reading of " Cinderella." 

Three other stories in the Third Reader have a similar 
motif: " Snow- White, " " Mother Frost," and " The Ugly 
Duckling," — though in each the motive has some differ- 
ences. In the appendix to Flora Annie Steele's Tales of 
the Punjab (Macmillan), and in Andrew Lang's edition of 
Grimms' 1 Fairy Tales (Bohn Library), there are excellent 
analyses of the recurrent themes and characteristics of these 
old folk-tales. The thoughtful teacher will find these dis- 
cussions very useful. Although the child's main interest 
is in the story as a story, in the pictures, the incidents, and 
the thrills they give him, he will enjoy noting the likeness 



32 THE TEACHING OF READING 

between one story and another. But the teacher who knows 
the psychology of children will not hurry this reflective 
process. She will wait until the things have settled into their 
memories before she invites these comparisons. 

In the German version of this story, told by the Grimm 
Brothers, the little heroine is called Aschenputtel, because 
she sits among the ashes. The children may like to com- 
pare this name with Cinderella. 

What Does Little Birdie Say ? by Alfred Tennyson (76) 

This poem must be treated very simply. Read it with 
the class, helping them to get it well enough to make the 
reading facile. Unless it is read runningly, the metrical 
movement will not be felt. 

For the meaning, it is enough to have the class simply 
get the main idea in each stanza. Then the poem may be 
memorized. 

Singing, by Robert Louis Stevenson {yy) 
Treat this poem about the same as the preceding one, 
except that the pictures rather than the thought are the im- 
portant thing. It is to be noted, however, that the pictures 
are neither detailed nor vivid — just a reference to the things 
that are singing, — birds, sailors, children in far-away coun- 
tries, and the organ man. It is the joy of singing that is 
really the theme of the poem. 

The Lost Doll, by Charles Kingsley (78) 

The theme and the incident of this poem are too simple 
to need further comment than is suggested in the questions 
with the text. The children may note the smoothness 



THIRD READER 



33 



with which the verse runs, when they can read it ; that is. 
that it is " so easy to say." So they may be encouraged to 
commit the verses to memory, the teacher employing the 
method suggested in " Bed in Summer."'* Call the atten- 
tion of the class to the repetition of the word " dears," and 
see how they like it; don't mind if some of them object. 

They might be told that the author was a clergyman, and 
a scientist; that he lived many years as a pastor down in 
Devonshire, England, near the quaint and beautiful old 
town of Clovelly ; that many people of his nock were fish- 
ermen; and that the common tragedy of the drowning of 
these brave fishermen at sea led to his writing '"'The Three 
Fishers," which the teacher may read to them. For con- 
venience, the poem is printed below. If the class take 
this well, she might also read them " The Sands of Dee." 
The class will probably read The Water-B.:: :V.\ or some 
selections from it, the next year. 

The music here supplied for "The Lost Doll" is an old 
Irish, melody, to the song The Lament for Gerald. 

The Three Fishers 

Three fishers went sailing out into the West, 
Out into the West when the sun went down ; 
Each thought of the woman who loved him the best, 
And the children stood watching them out of the town ; 
For men must work, and women must weep, 
And there's little to earn, and many to keep, 
Though the harbor bar be moaning. 

Tr.ree wives sat up in the lighthouse tower. 

And they trimmed the lamps as the sun went down ; 



34 THE TEACHING OF READING 

They looked at the squall, and they looked at the shower, 
And the night-wrack came rolling up ragged and brown. 
But men must work, and women must weep, 
Though storms be sudden, and waters deep, 
And the harbor bar be moaning. 

Three corpses lay out on the shining sand 
In the morning gleam as the tide went down, 
And the women are weeping and wringing their hands 
For those who will never come home to the town ; 
For men must work, and women must weep, 
And the sooner it's over, the sooner to sleep, 
And good-by to the bar and its moaning. 

Charles Kingsley. 

The Princess and the Pea, by Grimm Brothers (80) 

This is one of the variants of the disguised-prince or 
disguised-princess story ; with the significant difference 
that it is humorous and somewhat satirical. It certainly 
has not the reverent and obsequious attitude toward rank 
which many of the old fairy stories have. It contains no 
hidden significance other than that suggested in the Helps 
to Study in the text. If the teacher cares, she may ask the 
children to confess whether they have ever shown the same 
spirit as the Princess does. Have they ever thought of them- 
selves as a little better or more important than any one else, 
and therefore entitled to the very best things ? 

Snow-White and Rose-Red, by the Grimm Brothers (83) 

Here we have again some of the familiar motifs of the fairy 
stories: the good children, the friendly wild animal,, the 



THIRD READER 35 

wicked, thievish dwarfs (or the gnomes of the dark forest 
and of the dark world underground), the enchanted prince 
and the breaking of the spell, the reward of virtue in the 
form of happy marriage, and, of course, the living happily 
ever after. The story is to be read mainly for pleasure, mak- 
ing sure that the children get the details as they go. 

It has no moral purpose, contains no guides to conduct, 
corresponds to no proverbial wisdom. Whatever of moral 
worth it has lies in the example of the good and lovable little 
girls, and, it may be, in the satisfied sense of justice we 
have at the end of the story. But in its satisfaction of the 
imagination it has a high esthetic value. 

Old Gaelic Lullaby (96) 

Gaelic, the teacher will note, is old Scotch, the name of 
the first inhabitants of Scotland, and of the old language 
which many of the Scotch still speak, especially in the 
northern part of Scotland. The melody given here is that 
of an old English rote song. 

The poem proceeds by pictures : a pair in each stanza, 
set in contrast to each other. The class should have the 
idea made clear, and be led to hold the contrasted pictures in 
their order : father on the dangerous sea, and baby safe at 
home ; brother out in the storm seeking the wandering 
sheep, and baby asleep at home ; sister out in the storm 
seeking the cows on the hills, and baby safe asleep at home. 
The poem is well worth memorizing. 

Review Questions (97) 

If these classics are to be remembered, as we all believe 
they should be, reviews are necessary. Very few minds, 



36 THE TEACHING OF READING 

youthful or adult, hold things from one contact with them. 
It is the repeated return to the thing — even by brief men- 
tion — that finally makes it stay with us. 

Some of the questions here offered are general : they may 
be broken into more detailed inquiries. Some of them will 
suggest others to teacher and pupils. Let the children 
try the game of asking questions of each other ; it will 
bring good results. 

Mother Frost, by the Grimm Brothers (98) 

Frost in this, story means winter, the cold of the sky ; and 
Mother Frost is the spirit of it. But she is a just and kindly, 
rather than a cruel, spirit. This is a typical fairy tale of 
the moral kind. The good child is rewarded ; the cross and 
lazy child is punished and disgraced. Invite the children 
to point out the moral for themselves. Encourage them to 
find parallels in the opportunities of their own lives. 

Some explanation may be needed of the spindle and the 
craft of spinning once carried on in every home. It may be 
that some of the class have seen an old spinning wheel. 
The oven will certainly need explanation to most children. 
Few of them have even seen the baking of bread, and still 
fewer have seen the old-fashioned ovens. 

Thanksgiving Day, by Lydia Maria Child (107) 

This should, of course, be read just before or just after the 
Thanksgiving holiday, even if the order of the selections has 
to be broken. 

After reading the poem, correctly and with spirit, and 
after some talk with the class about the meaning and origin 
of the holiday (its beginnings among the pioneers of New 



THIRD READER 37 

England, in gratitude for the bounty of nature that saved 
them from starvation), the children may be asked to share 
with the class their anticipations or experiences of the 
holiday. 

The music given in the Reader is a Spanish air. 

Tom Tit Tot (no) 

This is an English version of the old story whose German 
parallel, told by the Grimms, is " Rumpelstiltskin." 

In each case the name is supposed to be amusingly im- 
possible to guess. In each case the king-husband comes 
upon it by accident, and unconsciously saves his wife from 
unpleasant results. In the German version, it is her child 
and not her own liberty that is the price she is to pay the 
little elf, if she fails to guess his name. In both stories the 
queen is an idle, stupid, and entirely undeserving girl. So 
we can hardly consider it a didactic story : — it simply has 
no moral, good or bad. It is amusing, it creates suspense, 
and resolves the suspense on the side of mercy by a climax 
that delights the children. Compare their reaction with 
what you have seen in .younger children listening to the story 
of "The Old Woman and Her Pig," the pig that wouldn't 
jump over the stile until a whole train of things was set 
in motion, and then the climax, when " the pig jumped 
over the stile and the old woman got home that night." 

The children may like to be reminded here of their own 
pleasure in " guessing " games, and of their delight in fanci- 
ful and absurd names for things. Some of them will be 
conscious of the fact that they have formed impressions of 
things and places, and especially of people, by the sound of 
the names, before they have seen them. 



38 THE TEACHING OF READING 

Little White Lily, by George Macdonald (121) 

The running movement of these short lines, each to be 
read with at least a very short pause at the end where 
there is no comma, and a slightly longer pause for comma or 
period, is a part of the charm of the poem. The explanation 
needed is of course the growth of the lily through sunshine 
and rain, its drooping and waiting for these kindly elements, 
its freshening up under their influence. But the explanation 
must be simple and short, not a disquisition, or even a dis- 
cussion, on plant life. This is to be a lesson in literature, 
not in botany. 

Into how many divisions (not stanzas) does the poem fall ? 

The author of this is the man who wrote At the Back of the 
North Wind, and The Light Princess, both of them delightful 
books for young children. 

The Moon, by Eliza Lee Follen (123) 

Make this an exercise (1) in getting the simple meanings 
involved, and (2) in memorizing. Try the children's skill 
in getting it by heart, on a time limit, say, of five minutes. 

The Sleeping Beauty, by the Grimm Brothers (124) 

There are many old stories of miraculously long sleep : 
Rip Van Winkle, Brunnhilde, the daughter of King Arthur 
(told in Scott's Bridal of Triermain), and others. But none 
of them equals this in beauty and romance. It is quite 
possible that it was intended to symbolize winter and 
spring, — the sun kissing the sleeping beauty, the earth, 
back to life again. If so, it is a parallel in its theme to the 
beautiful old Greek story of Persephone (or Proserpina). 



THIRD READER 59 

This story should be read mainly for its pictures, and 
for the sheer romance of the whole thing. It cannot be 
twisted into any sort of moral lesson whatever. If the 
children can give themselves up to imagining it, even to 
believing it for the time being, that is as it should be. 

Tennyson's poetic version of it, '" The Day Dream," 
should be read to the class, especially the last part of it 
where he describes the waking up of the whole castle. 

A touch, a kiss ! the charm was snapt. 

There rose a noise of striking clocks, 
And feet that ran, and doors that clapt, 

And barking dogs, and crowing cocks ; 
A fuller light illumined all, 

A breeze thro' all the garden swept, 
A sudden hubbub shook the hall, 

And sixty feet the fountain leapt. 

The hedge broke in, the banner blew, 

The butler drank, the steward scrawled, 
The fire shot up, the martin flew, 

The parrot screamed, the peacock squalled, 
The maid and page renewed their strife, 

The palace banged, and buzzed, and clacked, 
And all the long-pent stream of life 

Dashed downward in a cataract. 

And last with these the king awoke, 

And in his chair himself upreared, 
And yawned, and rubbed his face, and spoke *, 

" By holy rood, a royal beard ! 



40 THE TEACHING OF READING 

How say you ? we have slept, my lords. 

My beard has grown into my lap." 
The barons swore, with many words, 

'Twas but an after-dinner's nap. 

" Pardy," returned the king, " but still 

My joints are somewhat stiff or so. 
My lord, and shall we pass the bill 

I mentioned half an hour ago ? " 
The chancellor, sedate and vain, 

In courteous words returned reply; 
But dallied with his golden chain, 

And, smiling, put the question by. 

■ — Alfred Tennyson, from The Day Dream. 

Sweet and Low, by Alfred Tennyson (132) 

To be understood as a bedtime song, sweet-toned and 
gentle, slow of movement, sung by a mother in a fisher- 
man's or sailor's cottage, on the western shore of England ; 
to be read without halting or stumbling, to be sung to 
Barnby's famous melody (printed in the Reader), and to 
be committed to memory upon encouragement and not 
upon compulsion. These things seem to the editors 
what the fame and the spirit of this little gem require. 

The Husband Who Kept House (134) 

To be read for the pure fun of it, with, of course, a glancing 
application to the people who always think they can do 
things better than other people can, — until they try it. 
Then invite the pupils to contribute of their own obser- 
vation and experience. 



THIRD READER 41 

When I was a Bachelor (139) 

This is an old English folk-verse, — ■ of the nonsense type, 
like the Mother Goose rhymes. Read it merely as fun, 
and suggest memorizing it. 

A Visit from St. Nicholas, by Clement C. Moore (140) 

The author of this poem is generally given in textbooks 
as " Judge " Moore. He was a teacher of Hebrew and 
Divinity in the General Theological Seminary, New York 
City. He gave to that institution the land on which it still 
stands, on West Twentieth Street. He was born in 1779 
and died in 1863. This famous Christmas poem was pub- 
lished in 1844. 

Of course the appropriate time to read this is just before 
Christmas. The teacher may tell of Christmas legends 
and customs. There is a medley of them given in Cham- 
bers's Book of Days, and a good deal about Christmas cus- 
toms in England to be found in Irving, especially his Brace- 
bridge Hall. Do the children known Howells's delightful 
story, Christmas Every Day, or Samuel Crothers's Miss 
Muffet's Christmas Party, or Washington Gladden's Santa 
Claus on a Lark? While she is thinking of literature bear- 
ing on this season, she should not forget the greatest story 
of all, — that of the Nativity, in the New Testament. 

In our notes on " Wynken, Blynken, and Nod," attention 
was called to the borrowing of Dutch names in writing for 
children. Here we have it again. Probably in this in- 
stance it is the influence of old Dutch New York and of 
Washington Irving. 

As to method, it is probably enough to suggest that the 



42 THE TEACHING OF READING 

poem be read with sureness, spirit, and a lively sense of the 
pictures it gives. A teacher will naturally allow the chil- 
dren to remind her and each other that the true spirit of 
the season is in giving, not getting. 

The Town Musicians, by the Grimm Brothers (145) 

It would seem that the little wandering German band 
was an ancient joke in Germany, too, long before the band 
and the joke found their way to America. At least, this 
delightful story was one of those that the Grimm brothers 
picked up and printed as an old folk-tale. To a music- 
loving people like the Germans, inferior street music would 
of course be a joke. 

Read the story for the fun of it. Note the similarity of 
the reasons that brought this strange band together. Note 
the presence of the forest. Why does it enter into so many 
of the old tales ? Note the clever inventions in the story 
of the frightened robber. 

The children may like to dramatize the meeting of the 
animals with each other, and their planning for the future. 
There are obvious difficulties in the representation of the 
acrobatic feat at the window of the robbers' house. 

The Three Wishes (155) 

This is an old motif in the land of the imagination. If 
one had three wishes, how would he use them ? Wouldn't 
he perhaps inadvertently fritter them away ? At least so 
the story usually goes. Usually the wishes are the gift of 
some chance-met fairy or elf. One version has it that the 
man who has just got this precious gift is galloping home 
eager to tell his wife the good news. His horse stumbles. 



THIRD READER 43 

He says irritably, " I wish your neck were broken." The 
wish is instantly granted. He shamefacedly carries the 
saddle home, and confesses his hasty action to his wife. She 
is angry at his folly, and so berates him that he loses his 
temper and says, " I wish the saddle were on your mouth ! " 
and instantly this wish is granted. As it is quite impossible 
to have a wife going round with a saddle covering her face, 
the poor chap meekly wishes it off. And that is the end 
of his three wishes. 

If the teacher wishes to test the children's imagination 
and ingenuity, or to provoke them to free expression, she 
can probably do so by letting them tell what use they think 
they would make of three wishes. 

Another variant of the magic wish, which they will read 
later, is the story of "Aladdin and His Lamp." 

I Remember, by Thomas Hood (159) 

This poem will, of course, appeal to older people more 
than to children. But to children it will serve to call up 
some of their memories and some of their present impres- 
sions of their homes. What things do they think they will 
like to recall when they grow up .' 

Have them note how each stanza begins ; how each stanza 
has its topic ; how the personal mood of the author comes in 
in several of the stanzas; how line 15 must have the first 
word slurred over to make it run right. 

Jack and the Beanstalk (161) 

A purely fanciful dream-story, — of the kind that boys 
dream, — great actions, killing giants, and all that sort of 
thing. A little later,. the objects of their imaginary attack 



44 THE TEACHING OF READING 

are likely to be Indians. Read this just as a fanciful 
story, noting the magic, and the successive stages of the 
action. For this, a number of questions are given in the 
Helps to Study in the text. It would be interesting to get 
the class to confess, in a friendly and confidential mood, 
their dreamings of great deeds. Don't laugh at them. 

Do not try to teach the story as a real thing ; it would 
seem too bloody. Do not try to moralize it ; it has no moral 
teaching. Read it simply as a fantastic work of the imag- 
ination. If you have a copy of Pilgrim's Progress at hand, 
you might read to the class the fine story in it of Doubting 
Castle and Giant Despair. 

My Shadow, by Robert Louis Stevenson (174) 

This little jeu d' 'esprit of Stevenson's will need almost no 
comment. Every child has watched the pranks played by 
his own shadow. The last stanza is a burst of pure fancy, 
out-and-out invention on the part of the boy who is talk- 
ing. The children will probably not have heard of Schlemil's 
famous story of The Man without a Shadow. Some of the 
incidents, told by the teacher, would be entertaining. 

The music here given is the air of an old English song, 
Ten Thousand Miles Away. 

The Emperor's New Clothes, by Andersen (177) 

Hans Christian Andersen is one of the best known of the 
modern writers of fairy stories for children. His work is of 
quite unequal value. The four of his stories in this volume, 
together with "The Faithful Tin Soldier," "The Discon- 
tented Fir Tree," "The Conceited Apple Branch," and 



THIRD READER 45 

perhaps three or four more, constitute about all his really 
good work. At his best, he has tenderness, humor, gentle 
and kindly satire, and an insight into child-nature. But 
his stories are often too obsequiously reverent to wealth 
and titles for a democratic world ; and too full of sentimental 
effusions for modern taste. Still, he is a prominent figure 
among those who have written for children. 

The present story is one of his very best. The vain 
king, the complaisant and weak-minded court-officers, the 
absurdity and yet keenness of the device by which they 
are all taken in, — being made afraid of betraying them- 
selves, — the successive scenes of weaving, cutting, fitting, 
the false and empty pretenses and compliments, all lead 
up admirably to the delightful climax. And nothing could 
be better than having the climax broken, and simple 
mental honesty brought back to all of them by — a child. 
Pupils who remember what they have heard in Sunday 
School may recall the words, " Out of the mouths of 
babes," etc. 

It may be interesting to see if the children ever have, to 
" save their faces," pretended to see or know what they really 
did not. If they do remember such instances, they will 
get the essential point of this story. 

Some of the scenes naturally invite dramatizing; for 
example, those in which the rogue-weavers display the 
garments to the king and his retinue. Let the students 
make up appropriate conversations, and act out the 
scene. 

Remind the class, as another instance of pretense, of the 
fable of "The Ass in the Lion's Skin," and tell them the fable 
of "The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing." 



46 THE TEACHING OF READING 

The Little Match Girl, by Andersen (188) 

Perhaps this story is too tragic for young children. But 
could the school, one may ask, be a preparation for life if 
it never opened the eyes of the children to the fact that 
there is suffering in the world ? Such stories have their place 
as a part of the desirable literary and emotional experience ; 
and, although the ending is sad, there is rest and happiness 
beyond death. 

There is no need of making the tale too harrowing as it 
is read. The children will understand it ; most of them have 
felt some cold and hunger, and have at least thought they 
were suffering terribly at the time. They may be told of 
the merciful numbness that precedes death by freezing ; 
and of the visions of food that come to the starving. 

An appeal to their impulses to good deeds would be in place 
here. What have they ever done, what can they do, or 
sacrifice, to alleviate suffering ? What is done by charity, 
individual or organized, in the community where they live ? 



" One, Two, Three," by H. C. Bunner (195) 

After the class has read the poem, they might attempt 
to retell the story. Those who would like might illustrate 
it. Have them note the pleasing effect of repeating words 
in the last stanza. Do they know what a " clothes-press " 
is ? What is meant by getting " warm " ? 

H. C. Bunner was one of our best writers of short stories. 
The teacher may solace herself, after the labor of a hard 
day in the schoolroom, by reading in his Short Sixes some 
of the most delightful stories our literature can present. 



THIRD READER 47 

Five Peas in One Pod, by Andersen (198) 

Andersen liked to personify inanimate things, as children 
also do. Each of the five peas goes out into the world, 
like young people, looking for adventure. Note the humor 
of their thinking that all the world is the color of their 
pod. Their adventures differ as much as is the case with 
people. The one that came to flower in the window had 
the best life ; it was beautiful and useful. 

Do the children all know sweet peas ? (This isn't cer- 
tain, especially in the city. The teacher might bring some 
in. Their beauty would be justification enough.) Do they 
understand that it was the beauty of the flower and her 
interest in the growing plant that helped the sick girl to 
get well? Have the children ever done any gardening? 
Do they know of the nation-wide movement, the Garden 
Association, for encouraging an interest in gardening among 
children ? What can they tell of their experiences with grow- 
ing plants ? When they go out on nature-study trips, do 
they remember (and the teacher, too) not to rifle the 
woods and meadows too greedily, but to leave something 
for the next comers ? 



Sweet Peas, by John Keats (206) 

This little extract is from one of the earlier poems of 
Keats. Call the attention of the children to the implied 
comparison of the sweet pea to a butterfly (" poised on 
tiptoe for a flight"), to the color, and. to the delicate 
tendrils that reach out like fingers to take hold and 
climb. 



48 THE TEACHING OF READING 

The Ugly Duckling, by Andersen (207) 

Here we have recurring the same motif as in " Cinderella," 
" Mother Frost," etc., a very familiar theme in fairy stories. 
The ugly, unpromising, persecuted youngster comes to be 
in the end the finest and most fortunate of the group, — a 
secret hope and consolation to many children in their un- 
happy hours as, perhaps, it was to Andersen himself. 

Trace the adventures of the duckling in detail ; all his 
hardships of rebuffs, ill treatment, fear, hunger, cold, danger. 
Then trace the hints that he is something finer than the 
ducks. And finally picture the climax when he finds him- 
self a swan among swans in a beautiful private park. Have 
the children ever seen a swan ? The picture in the Reader, 
on page 225, will give some idea of its grace and beauty. 

The talk of the various creatures in the farmyard, their 
puffed-up self-satisfaction ; the completeness with which 
the cat and the hen in the old woman's cottage measure 
everything by their own ideas ; the hurt feelings of the 
snubbed and driven young duckling; — all these are quite 
human. Can the children find anything like them in the 
Fables they have read ? 

Lady Moon, by Lord Houghton (227) 

The idea here is very simple ; just a child talking to the 
moon and thinking of it as roving forever, and loving every- 
body, and as obedient to the will of God ; — reflecting, that 
is, three common impulses of childhood, to wander, to love, 
to be religious. 

The music is that of an old English " round." The word 
" round," as a musical term, is explained in any big dictionary. 



THIRD READER 49 

Windy Nights, by Robert Louis Stevenson (228) 

Who has not felt the delightful mystery of the sound of 
feet of men or horses, going by in the night ? Whose are 
they ? Where are they going ? On what errands ? And 
on windy nights the howling or sighing of the wind heightens 
the mystery. Note the imitation of the swinging gallop 
of the horse in the movement of the lines, especially of the 
last two lines of each stanza. See that the children bring 
this out in their own reading of the poem. Have them com- 
mit it all to memory. 

III. OLD STORIES AND POEMS 

Bruce and the Spider (229) 

W T hether this story really happened, or has that other 
kind of truth, the truth of the might-have-been, no one 
knows. Nor does it greatly matter. The useful lesson is 
there, just the same. That is why the story has gone on 
being told and re-told, and is still with us. 

Robert Bruce (1 274-1 329) became King of Scotland as 
Robert the First. In the long struggles between England 
in those rough and turbulent times, he defeated the Eng- 
lish at Bannockburn and finally had his title as King recog- 
nized by the English. 

Do the children know Burns's song, " Scots wha hae wi 
Wallace Bled " ? It celebrates the rugged patriotism of 
this period. 

King Alfred and the Cakes (23 1) 

It is the homeliness and the humor of this old tale that 
have kept it alive. We are all prone to hero-worship, and 



50 THE TEACHING OF READING 

rightly. But we like to think of our heroes as human, too. 
And so this bit of kindly gossip has been handed down. The 
teacher will find interesting things about this great Eng- 
lishman of a thousand years ago in the life of him by Thomas 
Hughes. A good history of England will furnish briefer in- 
formation. 

Hiawatha's Childhood, by Longfellow (234) 

Longfellow's purpose in his famous poem was to put in 
pleasing and permanent form the traditions and customs of 
the Indians. He got his material mostly from School- 
craft's book on the North American Indians. Hiawatha 
(whose other name, Manibo'zho, Longfellow first took and 
then rejected as not musical enough) was the mythical hero, 
the demigod, of the Ojibway (or Chippewa) Indians among 
whom all of this material had been gathered. His exploits, 
his inventions, his teaching and leading of his people, are 
the main theme of the poem. The present selection deals 
with the young hero's childhood education, — the traditional 
introduction to nature and human life given to the young 
by the old among primitive peoples. It is sufficient to 
let the children read it with this simple idea : this was 
Hiawatha's nursing and his schooling. Would they like 
it ? What is fact and what is fancy in it ? Notice 
that he even has his cradle song ; the music of it, as 
still sung by the Indians around the Great Lakes, is 
given below. 

Longfellow borrowed the peculiar swinging, running 
rhythm of the poem from that of the epic of Finland, The 
Kalevala, which he had been reading shortly before he wrote 
Hiawatha. Let the children fall into the swing of it ; 



THIRD READER 



Si 



don't check them if they sing-song it a little. There is no 
worse crime against poetry than to read it like expressionless, 
plodding, unrhythmic prose. 

The hard words — the proper names — should present 
no difficulty. The teacher may simply assume that the 
children can now make them out, as they have command 
of their phonetics. And the meter will show where the 
accent falls. 

The little lullaby inserted here is the one to which Long- 
fellow refers. It is still used by the Ojibway Indian mothers 
to sing their babes to sleep. 



'it 



-Z=r 



Hush, lit - tie babe 

i &£ 1 e: * — 


, go to sleep, lit - tie babe ; 
r--> fc r* h * 


/ * v. =j P» P* — 






VT\ *■ ' m a • 




cJ • 


VsL> • v 






J 







Hush, lit - tie ba - by, don't cry an - y more. 



r\J> 








1 








s?\ 


y- *• 


s 


is 


1 




IS &i !S 


/l p 


& 








H|?P 




ft, | 




-w — *-r- 


—0 — 


-0 — 


* o • 


» • m • 


. — 








L£j2 ■- 






s v — s' 






-0 — 


— — L 


cJ - 



Or the Great Xa - ked Bear . will . take you a - way. 



The Leak in the Dike (240) 

Another traditional story ; this celebrates the simple 
virtue of heroic fortitude. Have the children try to real- 
ize what the lad's brave deed meant for the people of the 
region. Explain the dike system, and how the plucky 
Hollanders have maintained their rich and prosperous farms 
by keeping out the sea. The teacher might, if there is time, 
read something about all this from Mary Mapes Dodge's 



52 THE TEACHING OF READING 

Hans Brinker or The Land of Pluck. Note that " pluck " 
is the virtue of this boy, — a worthy son of his country. 
Phcebe Cary has a poem celebrating this same story. 

Washington and the Cherry Tree (245) 

No other story about Washington is so well known as 
this. It first appeared in a life of Washington, about 1840, 
by a man named Weems. It was not a very accurate bi- 
ography, though the author was a scholar. This particular 
invention of the hatchet is so good that we are all grateful 
to the author for his vivid imagination. At any rate, the 
story is true in spirit even though it is not in fact. 

America, by Samuel F. Smith (247) 

This is really not an easy poem for little people to under- 
stand. It is not simple in statement. One can easily be- 
lieve the story about the school children whom a visitor 
with an acute ear heard singing lustily " My Country, tiz- 
er-tee." They had never thought of the line as having any 
meaning. So the teacher may address herself seriously and 
patiently to the task of getting the meaning clear. Such 
study will not spoil the poem, if she does it with patriotic 
enthusiasm. Young people are ready enough, sometimes too 
ready, to think their own the finest country in the world. 

Dick Whittington and His Cat (250) 

This story is so simple that it should be read through al- 
most without comment. Perhaps the best supplementary 
reaction to it is just to have the children retell it. 



THIRD READER 53 

There are various old rhymes about the sounds of the 
London church bells. One series of them is found in an 
old singing game for children. Some of the class may know 
it. One pair of lines is : 

Oranges and lemons, 

Say the bells of St. Clemens ! 

IV. NONSENSE 

Pig and Pepper, by Lewis Carroll (264) 

The third year of school is about the time to introduce 
children to the delightful Alice books. All English-speak- 
ing children ought to read both of them through by the end 
of the fourth grade. If there isn't time in the school course, 
there is time enough outside. The teacher must share the 
fun. She may have to explain now and then, — briefly 
and quizzingly. But usually the children get the spirit of 
this clever nonsense at once. They should be told about 
Carroll : his fondness for children and his ingenious means 
of entertaining them, and should have some other parts of 
the book read to them ; e.g., "The Cheshire Cat," and "Alice 
in the Pool of Tears." " The Mad Tea Party " is given in 
the Fourth Reader of this series. 

For more comment on Carroll, see the Fourth Reader 
part of this Manual. 

Whole Duty of Children, by Stevenson (270) 

This is added as a parting bit of friendly humor. Do 
the children see in which line Stevenson's little joke lies 
lurking ? 



FOURTH READER 

The Fourth Reader of the Everyday Classics series is 
intended as a basic reader for the fourth year of school. 
Its interests are in part carried over from the third year 
{e.g. in the fanciful tales of travel and adventure), and in 
part new material in the stories and descriptions of nature 
and out-of-door life, in the poetry of nature, and in the 
stories of child life. The material falls into general groups 
as follows : 

I. Imaginary Travels. 

II. Nature and Out-of-Doors. 

III. Patriotic Selections. 

IV. Historical Tales and Legends. 
V. Stories of Child Life. 

VI. Stories and Poems. 

As in the other Readers of the series, to every selection 
these tests have been put : Is it good enough and well 
enough known to be enrolled among the classics ? Is it 
simple enough in diction and in interest to be read by Fourth 
Grade children ? 

In the grouping, it has not always been possible to main- 
tain an absolute gradation on the basis of progressive dif- 
ficulty, — though in the main this gradation has been 

54 



I. 


Sindbad's Second Voyage 


9- 


2. 


Sindbad's Fifth Voyage 


IO. 


3- 

4- 


A Munchausen Adventure 
Jack Frost 


ii. 


5- 


Brownie on the Ice 


12. 


6. 


Tom and the Lobster 


13- 


7- 


A Happy Boy 


14. 


8. 


The Soldier's Reprieve 





FOURTH READER 55 

achieved. It may be, however, that for a class of low 
reading ability the following order would be better : 

Captain Smith and Pocahontas 
The Jack o' Lantern 
Franklin's First Day in Phil- 
adelphia 
Turning the Grindstone 
The Miller of the Dee 
Cosette 



Have the children read these selections carefully, getting 
the meaning, first in the large and then of the more sig- 
nificant details ; have them reread once at least, so that 
the pupils not only gain a command over the material but feel 
a sense of confidence in their command of it. Then the 
class may go back to the beginning of the book, and read 
straight through, reading or omitting selections already 
read, as the class and teacher decide. The desire of the 
class to read again the familiar selections will be an in- 
dication that the former readings were successful. 

Any analysis of literature reveals the difficulty of arbi- 
trary and absolute classification. The order, or grouping, 
made in this Reader could be further varied on the basis 
of content. " Cosette," for example, is a story of child- 
life, and is also a Christmas story; so it may be read just 
before or just after Moore's " 'Twas the Night before Christ- 
mas." " A Happy Boy " may be followed by " Heidi's 
First Day on the Mountain " ; both celebrate the joys of 
the great out-of-doors. " The Fairies of Caldon-Low " 
may be followed by " Brownie on the Ice." Whittier's " The 
Fish I Didn't Catch " may be read after the two Franklin 



56 THE TEACHING OF READING 

stories ; they too have a moral. " The Munchausen 
Adventure " is humorous, and may be read with " A Mad 
Tea Party." " The Soldier's Reprieve " and " The Blue 
and the Gray " may be read together just before Lincoln's 
birthday ; or the latter poem may quite appropriately be 
read just before Memorial Day. 

I. IMAGINARY TRAVELS 

The book opens with poems and stories about travel on 
the sea and in lands of wonder and magic. The sea is 
naturally conspicuous in such a group. Both Gulliver and 
Sindbad are travelers on the sea, Gulliver as a sailor, Sindbad 
as a merchant. 

While the stories convey no lesson, and are to be read 
frankly for pleasure, they have natural connections with 
geography, and may suggest some current events. Polar 
expeditions, for example, offer marvels hardly less wonder- 
ful than some of those experienced by Sindbad. 

This group of selections appeals to an instinct deeply 
implanted in most normal children. Stevenson has voiced 
it admirably in his poem, " Travel." Most of us can re- 
call our childhood dreams of strange lands and wild ad- 
ventures ; perhaps we could invest familiar places and 
figures with a halo of romance. This mental experience is 
admirably portrayed in a passage in Whittier's " Snow- 
Bound," in the twenty-second chapter of Barrie's Senti- 
mental Tommy, and in other parts of that delightful book. 
Another familiar and charming portrayal of the imaginary 
world of children is Kenneth Grahame's The Golden Age, 
especially in the chapter called " The Roman Road." This 
chapter may be read to the children. 



FOURTH READER 



57 



A Song of the Sea, by Allan Cunningham (n) 

Cunningham's poem has, strictly speaking, no title ex- 
cept its first line. But this line would not convey a correct 
impression to inland children. Hence we have given the 
poem a title that is often given to it and that conveys a 
general impression of its theme. Perhaps the children, 
after reading it, may be able to suggest some other title : 
as, " A Mariner's Song," " Life on the Sea," or something 
of that sort. They should be encouraged to memorize it-. 

Note how the things seen and felt are the wind, the sea, 
the ship, and the motion, — and how the swing of the verse 
carries one along. If good pictures of the sea and of ships 
with sails are obtainable, it may help children to appreciate 
the poem. Some information, too, about the steamship's 
displacing of the old wind-driven ship will be interesting 
and valuable. But any information given must be subsidiary 
to the ideas of the poem. 

The author, Allan Cunningham (1784-1842), was a Scotch- 
man, as his name implies. Although a landsman, he has 
caught the spirit of the sea : its range, its freedom, and its 
dangers. 

Gulliver in Lilliput, by Jonathan Swift (13) 

Gulliver's Travels has had the curious fortune to appeal to 
two different classes of readers, and to each in an entirely 
different way. To children it is an extraordinary and in- 
genious kind of fanciful tale ; to adults it is a bitter satire 
on the follies and vices of mankind. The selection here 
given contains none of Swift's invectives against humanity; 
they would be out of place. It is neither necessary nor 
desirable that children should be informed of this aspect of 



58 THE TEACHING OF READING 

the book. Let the selection remain to them what they will 
naturally feel it to be, — a strange and wonderful tale. 

Some interesting reactions can be obtained from the 
class (i) by questioning them as to the exact details of 
the incidents just after they have read them, and (2) by 
suggesting other situations into which Gulliver did fall, 
or might have fallen, while in Lilliput, and letting the 
class amplify the situation. For example : (1) Gulliver 
takes a walk in the public park ; (2) attends a concert ; 
(3) watches an election; (4) takes a bath; (5) helps in 
chopping wood or making garden ; (6) earns his living by 
some other occupation. (7) How did Gulliver escape from 
Lilliput ? Children will enjoy reading the story and find- 
ing out the answer. 

The teacher may read to the class some of Gulliver's other 
adventures in Lilliput or in Brobdingnag. She might tell 
them, also, of the race of pygmies in Central Africa, belief 
in whose existence had long been based on mere tradition, 
and whom Stanley actually discovered in the deep forests. 
The Pygmies are only about four feet high. Stanley's 
account of them is found in his book, In Darkest Africa. 

The Sea, by Barry Cornwall (31) 

Barry Cornwall is the pen-name of Bryan Waller Proc 
ter (1787-1874). He was an English lawyer and author, 
and a schoolmate of Byron's at Harrow. 

This poem, " The Sea," though neither so famous nor 
perhaps so good as Cunningham's, yet has more of the life and 
motion, more of the details, of the sea. It speaks of the 
wide expanse of the sea, its leaping waves or its quiet seren- 
ity, its blue color (what other colors does it often take ?), 



FOURTH READER 59 

its wild storms, its sounds, the speaker's birth upon it and 
his love of it, of the whales and dolphins (which are not 
fish at all, but mammals living in the sea, — as are seals, 
and still other animals), and ends with the sailor's decla- 
ration of his intention to live and die on the sea. 

The poem is to be read with life and spirit, to bring out 
the rush and swing of the lines ; note, for example, the 
movement of the fourth stanza. 

Sindbad"s Second Voyage (34) 

The stories of The Arabian Nights are very old. They 
were first made known to Europe through a French trans- 
lation from the Arabic in 1704. Since that time they have 
held first rank among the creations of the fancy. They 
neither delineate character nor interpret life ; can any one 
form the slightest idea of what sort of man Sindbad was ? 
They are, frankly, nothing but wild and extravagant tales. 
As such, they are now known and enjoyed over the whole 
civilized world. For civilized people also enjoy fanciful 
tales of a wonderful land where palaces spring up like mush- 
rooms, where demons become the slaves of men and lay cases 
of jewels at their feet, and other marvelous things happen. 

Any edition of Arabian Nights will serve to refresh the 
teacher's memory of others of these tales to tell to the 
class. "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves," "Aladdin and 
His Lamp," "The Fisherman and the Genie," the other 
voyages of Sindbad, — all are fascinating. If possible, leave 
a copy or two of the book about for the children to pick 
up and read, such as Macmillan's Pocket Classic edition of 
The Arabian Nights, edited by Clifton Johnson. 

Encourage the children to tell of dreams and fancies they 



6o THE TEACHING OF READING 

have had which are in any way like these stories. Such 
fancies are not things to be ashamed of; they are only the 
play activities of the imagination. 

Elicit comparisons between these old creations of the fancy 
and the accomplished wonders of the modern world. The 
aeroplane is more wonderful than the roc, and a better 
motive power for aerial flights. The submarine is stronger 
than any monster of the deep, real or imagined. At the 
touch of a button, a whole city may be flooded with light. 
People talk to each other, though thousands of miles apart. 
And there are yet other wonders, now in existence and 
still to come. What would the inventors of these old tales 
have thought if they could have seen one day's doings in a 
modern city ? 

It would make an interesting composition to tell about 
taking Sindbad about on such a day of sight-seeing. 

Sindbad's Fifth Voyage (46) 

The preceding story corresponds to our unrestrained fancy 
in quest of wild adventure ; this is rather more like a night- 
mare. Who have had nightmares, and what are they like ? 
(The word nightmare, by the way, has nothing to do with 
horses ; the second half of the word is from an Anglo-Saxon 
word, mara, meaning burden, load.) Does the "old man" 
seem human ? Or is he more like some of the dwarfs and 
gnomes of which you have read in fairy stories, e.g., in 
" Snow-White and Rose -Red " ? How did you feel when 
he was killed ? 



FOURTH READER 61 

Travel, by Robert Louis Stevenson (54) 

This is not a lesson in geography, — though it may be 
made to touch geography with distinct benefit to that val- 
uable subject and to the poem. The teacher will be careful 
to keep her " values " correct : the romance of geography 
and the clear pictures of the poem. Matthew Arnold, who 
has sometimes been called " the geographer poet," because 
of his fondness for describing foreign scenes, has some 
interesting pictures of oriental streets in " The Sick King 
of Bokhara." These passages are simple enough to read 
to the children. Some parts of Tennyson's "Recollections 
of the Arabian Nights " would also be appropriate here. 

The poem should be read for its pictures, the swing of 
its meter, and the outreaching spirit of imagination. It 
would be a difficult poem to memorize, but an excellent one 
from which to ask pupils to quote the lines they like best. 

A Munchausen Adventure, by Baron Raspe (58) 

The Travels of Baron Munchausen is a book easily obtain- 
able in cheap form. The public library will have it, or the 
local book-dealer can order it. The tales are amusing 
flights of fancy, — not unlike a certain playful exaggeration 
that has often been said to be a characteristic of American 
humor, particularly that of our earlier days. The children 
will find the stories diverting : e.g., that of the stag that was 
shot with cherry stones in place of metal shot, and appeared 
later with a fine tree growing from his head ; or that of the 
dog that, having been cut in two, was hastily clapped to- 
gether again and got well. But the operator got one half 
upside down, so that while the hind feet were on the ground 



62 THE TEACHING OF READING 

the front feet were in the air, and vice versa. So the dog had 
the advantage of being able to rest two of his feet while 
the other two were running. 

II. NATURE AND OUT-OF-DOORS 

Jack Frost, by Hannah F. Gould (61) 

This old favorite is, of course, not poetry of a high order. 
But it is a clever, genial picture of the antics of the frost, 
told with a certain quickness of movement and liveliness of 
spirit. 

There is much common meteorological lore that it would 
interest the children to pick out : the frost comes out on the 
clear nights ; it does its work quietly ; it leaves a powdery 
effect on the hills ; it decorates the window-panes with 
beautiful crystals ; it freezes the fruit and the water left 
unprotected, and cracks the vessels in which the water is 
held. Do the pupils get the little joke about the people 
" forgetting to prepare " for Jack Frost in the cupboard ? 
What are the " coat of mail " and the " spears " that he 
" hung on the margin " of the lake, " where a rock could 
rear its head"? What are the "diamonds and pearls", 
with which he " drest the boughs of the trees " ? 

The author, Hannah Flagg Gould (i 789-1 865), lived in 
Massachusetts. 

The Fish I Didn't Catch, by Whittier (64) 

What does the title lead the class to expect ? Who was 
the uncle with whom the boy went fishing ? Probably the 
same who is fondly described in " Snow-Bound " : — 



FOURTH READER 63 

Our uncle, innocent of books, 

Was rich in lore of fields and brooks, 

The ancient teachers never dumb 

Of Nature's unhoused lyceum. 

In moons and tides and weather wise, 

He read the clouds as prophecies, 

And foul or fair could well divine, 

By many an occult hint and sign, 

Holding the cunning-warded keys 

To all the woodcraft mysteries ; 

Himself to Nature's heart so near 

That all her voices in his ear 

Of beast or bird had meanings clear. 

Content to live where life began ; 
A simple, guileless, childlike man, 
Strong only on his native grounds, 
The little world of sights and sounds 
Whose girdle was the parish bounds. 

He told how teal and loon he shot, 
And how the eagle's eggs he got, 
The feats on pond and river done, 
The prodigies of rod and gun. 

At any rate, in the sketch here given the uncle shows a 
kindly and simple wisdom. 

A Boy's Song, by James Hogg (68) 

Have the class note (1) all the pictures in the poem, (2) 
the spirit of the boy. Is he effeminate, — or a sensible, 



64 THE TEACHING OF READING 

normal boy ? Note the pleasing effect of having a number 
of the lines begin with the same words, — how it makes the 
reading swing smoothly along. 

The boy of this poem should be compared with the boy 
in the selection from Jeffries, "The Happy Boy," after the 
latter has been read. 

The author, James Hogg (17.70-1835), was a Scotchman. 
He is often referred to as The Ettrick Shepherd. He was 
born at Ettrick. His father and grandfather were shepherds ; 
and as a boy he tended the flocks and read books. He 
never had more than six months of schooling ; but he 
managed to educate himself. 

The Wind in a Frolic, by William Howitt (70) 

The spirit of this poem is playful, like that of " Jack 
Frost " ; but it is boisterous play. Read it for the pic- 
tures, the motion, the noise. Note how the feeling of sense- 
less confusion is created. Note, too, the spirit of the wind : 
rude, lusty, no respecter of persons. Do the children know 
the saying, " The wind bloweth where it listeth " ? If so, 
do they know what it means ? 

Christina Rossetti's poem, " The Wind " (see Third 
Reader), and Stedman's poem, " What the Winds Bring " 
(quoted in Baker and Thorndike's Everyday English, Book 
I), are interesting treatments of the wind to compare with 
this poem. The children would enjoy George Macdonald's 
book, At the Back of the North Wind. 

Brownie on the Ice, by Dinah Mulock Craik (75) 

The brownies are little fairy folk, still about half believed 
in by the simple and uneducated people of England, and 



FOURTH READER 65 

by the children. At any rate, it is pleasant to make be- 
lieve about them. They are mischievous, as in this selec- 
tion and other chapters from the same book, but grateful 
and kindly to those who treat them well. 

The Gardener is an interesting character : a little peevish 
and grumpy, yet faithful and devoted to the family. But 
of course we cannot expect the children to be too sorry for 
his accident. 

The reader will easily conjecture that it was Brownie 
who assumed the form of the kangaroo, and did the other 
little touches of magic. The whole selection, even to the 
hopping kangaroo, could easily be dramatized. The book 
from which this is taken ought to be in the school library. 
So ought the same author's Little Lame Prince and her 
version of the fairy tales, whose title is The Fairy Book. 

The Brownie — in groups — was presented in another 
and very popular form to American children in St. Nicholas, 
a generation ago. Palmer Cox wrote rhymes and drew pic- 
tures about them. They may be obtained in book form. 

The Mountain and the Squirrel, by Ralph Waldo 
Emerson (91) 

By way of introduction the teacher might call attention 
to the pertness and liveliness of squirrels and the dignity 
and calm of mountains, and say, " This poem is an amusing 
argument between a squirrel and a mountain as to which 
is the more useful and capable." 

At the end, the gist of the matter is that they can't be 
compared. Neither has the advantage. Each can do his 
own sort of thing. Can the children apply the idea ? Which 
is more useful, an apple tree or a needle ? a book or a dinner ? 



66 THE TEACHING OF READING 

a cow or a laundry ? The teacher might suggest a dialogue 
between two children, each representing one of two totally 
disparate things, and each claiming to be superior to the 
other. It would be an interesting bit of oral composition. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) was an American 
poet, essayist, lecturer, and philosopher. He was born in 
Boston of a long line of clergymen, and after his graduation 
from Harvard he was for a time a minister himself. His 
noble character, which showed itself in his face and his musi- 
cal voice, helped to make him successful as a lecturer. He 
settled down at Concord in the neighborhood of the Alcotts 
and Thoreau. He inspired others to think and work for 
themselves. He believed in plain living and high thinking 
and he set the example himself. 

Other poems that the children might enjoy are " The 
Humble Bee," " The Concord Hymn," " The Rhodora." 

Tom and the Lobster, by Charles Kingsley (93) 

As Kingsley's Water Babies is commonly read in the 
Fourth Grade, this lesson might be regarded by the teacher 
as an introduction to the book. A little talk about Tom's 
life as a chimney-sweep, — the hard work, the dirt, and the 
cruel treatment, his fright and his running away, his 
drowning and his later life as a sort of under-water fairy, 
where he learns many lessons that all well-trained children 
have to know, — such a talk would be a proper introduction 
to this selection. The selection is to be read for its story, 
its fun, and its good-humored pointing of certain morals. 
The class ought to have a chance to read the rest of the 
story of their own volition. Part of the reading might 
be a class exercise, part left to individual initiative. 



FOURTH READER 67 

The author liked to mingle story and science. And it is 
quite proper to stop and explain the scientific information 
or concepts which he introduces in the book. 

Charles Kingsley (1819-1875) was a warm-hearted, active, 
versatile English clergyman, who lived in the south of Eng- 
land. He loved and understood children. He was interested 
in science, — in flowers and animals and in all the forms of 
nature. Hence we find this blending of science, morality, 
and humor in his books. He wrote two other books for 
children : Madam How and Lady Why, a book of informa- 
tion about simple scientific matters, and The Heroes (often 
given as Greek Heroes), a collection of stories from Greek 
mythology {Pocket Classics, Macmillan). The teacher might 
read to the class his "Three Fishers" and "The Sands of 
Dee." 

The Daffodils, by William Wordsworth (103) 

Tell the children that this poem was written by an English 
poet who spent nearly all his life in the country in a beautiful 
part of England, where there were lakes and mountains. 
He loved them even better than books. He was acquainted 
with the birds and flowers and the sea. He thought that no 
one could be happy who did not love out-of-door things, 
and he believed that out-of-door things enjoyed living 
just as people do. He thought that people who live in 
the country were far more interesting than rich city people. 

In teaching "The Daffodils " the thin thread of narrative 
may be stressed something after this fashion : One day 
Wordsworth felt lonely and went out to walk. Suddenly 
he saw thousands and thousands of daffodils tossing their 
golden heads beside a lake. They were gayer than the 



68 THE TEACHING OF READING 

dancing waves and they made the poet feel gay. And 
afterwards when he was far away from them in his own 
room, he often saw the daffodils with his mind's eye and 
they made him happy again. The last stanza is the most 
difficult, but it may be made clear by asking the children 
if they do not see again some particularly striking object, 
seen long before, when they shut their eyes. 

The lesson is that we cannot forget beautiful things and 
that we ought to look at beautiful things rather than ugly 
ones. There is a chance to give the class a lesson in good 
taste, to explain to them that if they like beautiful objects 
in nature, beautiful pictures, beautiful poetry, they will 
learn to like such things better all the time. Tell them 
that a beautiful sight is better than a new toy, for it cannot 
be broken. 

The Sandpiper, by Celia Thaxter (106) 

We have here one of the most imaginative and tender 
poems in American literature. The loneliness of the beach, 
with nothing there but the author, the little bird, the sand, 
the waves, and the driftwood is the first picture. Then 
we have the mention of the coming storm, the scudding of 
the sullen clouds, and the flying of the close-reefed vessels. 
The third stanza gives the sense of acquaintance and com- 
panionship between poet and bird. The last stanza expresses 
the idea that the same God will care for both of them. 
(There is a passage in the New Testament something like 
this. What is it ?) The linking of bird and poet to- 
gether in the last line in each stanza is particularly good. 

Children who have never seen the ocean or the Great 
Lakes may not get the images of the poem very well. But 



FOURTH READER 69 

good pictures of the sea will help. Some of the words will 
need explanation, such as : beach, driftwood, misty shroud, 
close-reefed, fluttering drapery. Encourage the class to 
commit the poem to memory. It is well worth the trouble. 

The Fountain, by James Russell Lowell (no) 

In addition to the suggestions under Helps to Study in 
the Reader the children may be told that Lowell (1819- 
1891) was one of our most famous authors. He was born 
in Massachusetts, and lived in Cambridge, except during the 
time he was minister to England. He was editor of The 
Atlantic Monthly for many years. For a long time, also, 
he was professor of modern languages at Harvard, the same 
position that had been held by Longfellow. He was one of 
the most widely read men of his time. The pupils would 
enjoy his poem, "The First Snowfall." 

The music is an old Scotch air, " Well May the Keel Row." 

The Brown Thrush, by Lucy Larcom (113) 

This poem, written by Lucy Larcom (1826-1893), is in 
her Childhood Songs. She was born in Massachusetts. 
In A New England Girlhood she has told the story of her 
early life in a delightful way. She began working in a 
factory at Lowell when she was only a child, but there 
was much play and other pleasure mixed with the work. 
Her first poems were published in the Lowell Offering, a 
magazine started by the factory girls. Some of the other 
poems that might interest the class are: — "Berrying 
Song," "A Harebell," "Sir Robin," and "Red-Top and 
Timothy." Her best poem is "Hannah Binding Shoes." 



yo THE TEACHING OF READING 

Although nearly twenty years later than Whittier, her 
youth, like his, illustrates the dignity of homely labor and 
its incidental pleasures. If the children are interested, 
some parts of A New England Girlhood might be read to 
the class. 

"The Brown Thrush" is semi-dramatic. One student 
might take the part of the little girl or boy who speaks the 
first two lines, another the part of the poet who speaks the 
third, and a third child might take the more important 
role of the thrush. 

The Barefoot Boy, by John Greenleaf Whittier (119) 

This poem tells about the out-of-door pleasures of Whit- 
tier when he was a boy. The poem should be supplemented 
by passages from " Snow Bound " : lines 19-30, beginning, 
" Meanwhile we did our nightly chores " ; lines 66-92, 
beginning, " A prompt decisive man " ; and especially, lines 
155-174, beginning, " Shut in from all the world without " ; 
and again, beginning at line 614, " Within our beds awhile 
we heard." Read as long as the interest lasts. 

Other poems that tell about Whittier's home and its 
surroundings are : " In School Days," " Telling the 
Bees," the first part of " The River Path." Of the poems 
that have no autobiographical element, " The Three Bells " 
would be easily grasped by the class, and if they wanted 
more, " Skipper Ireson's Ride," with some necessary ex- 
planations. " Maud Muller " is too old for the class in the 
sentiment of the last part, but not in the scene or in the 
imaginings of the heroine. 

An interesting supplement to the study of the poem, in 
regions other than New England, would be to have the 



FOURTH READER 71 

class tell what interesting things for boys and girls are in 
their regions : what fruits, what flowers, what bird and 
animal life, what occupations. For city children the 
parallel is neither easy nor comforting ; but there is no 
harm done in making them think the life of the country 
interesting and beautiful. 

A Happy Boy, by Richard Jeffries (125) 

This is an extract from Wood Magic, written by the English 
naturalist and writer, Richard Jeffries (1 848-1 887). He 
lived at the Coate farmhouse, where his Bevis lives. His 
father taught him to love and observe nature. He tried to 
write novels before he discovered that his real work was 
writing about the country. " The Pageant of Summer" in 
Life of the Fields is one of his best works. Bevis is the hero 
of Wood Magic, and, as an older boy, of the book named 
Bevis. Wood Magic owes much of its charm to its style. 

In "A Happy Boy" Jeffries incidentally stresses nature's 
love of blue : a blue butterfly, blue sky, blue valley, a blue 
harebell. Ask the children if they see distant hills as 
blue, or the vista down a long street. Tell them that the 
French army wears a pale blue uniform, because in France 
there is so much blueness that a uniform of this color is not 
conspicuous in the distance. 

Bevis is alone in the woods. Try to make the class see 
(1) that it is delightful to be friends with nature, to listen 
to the talk of the trees and the wind and the brook, and to 
enjoy the company of birds and butterflies, and (2) that 
being out of doors a great deal makes the body strong, so 
that it can obey the mind. 

It would be easy, after the class have read the story, to 



72 THE TEACHING OF READING 

dramatize it, for there are plenty of characters. Care 
should be taken to keep the language as gentle and refined 
as it is in the story. Blue should be worn by the butter- 
fly and the harebell. The latter really talks and so does the 
wild thyme. 

Our own John Burroughs, whose writings the children 
will read later, is one of the best expounders and exam- 
ples of the delight and wholesomeness of life out-of- 
doors. Some of his sketches, like " An Idyl of the Honey- 
Bee, " in Pepacton, could be enjoyed by Fourth Grade 
children if read to them with an occasional explanatory 
comment. 

In reading about and discussing nature with young chil- 
dren, it is not necessary to dress things up in pretty and 
sentimental fancies. Rely rather upon the simple beauties 
that children can actually see, and upon the wonder of 
simple things. 

Seven Times One, by Jean Ingelow (137) 

This poem needs little other comment than that implied 
in the questions under the Helps to Study. Perhaps Amer- 
ican children may not know that clear, cloudless, and dry 
days are exceptions in England ; such days are not so com- 
mon as they are here. The author, Jean Ingelow, was 
born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1830, and died only a few 
years ago. Her poetry is partly about nature, and partly 
simple stories in ballad form. 

The Brook, by Alfred Tennyson (139) 

" The Brook " is taken from a long poem called by the 
same name. It was written by Alfred Lord Tennyson 



FOURTH READER 73 

(1 809-1 892), a celebrated English poet, who led a quiet 
life, read much, and loved nature, especially the sea. He 
had an extraordinary gift for melody and for making words 
echo the sense. This poem illustrates both, notably the 
second. 

The refrain divides the song of the brook into four parts : 
the first tells where the brook came from and what it passes 
before it flows into the river ; the second tells how it travels, 
chattering, bubbling, babbling, fretting the banks ; the 
third tells what the brook takes to the river ; the fourth 
tells what the brook particularly enjoys doing on its way 
to the river. 

Philip is an old farmer who chatters even more than the 
brook. 

Robert of Lincoln, by William Cullen Bryant (143) 

William Cullen Bryant (1 794-1 878) was the earliest of 
the greater American poets. Although he was born in 
Massachusetts,' he spent the greater part of his life in New 
York as a journalist. He was a good citizen and his paper 
helped to make other men better citizens. All through 
his life he kept memories of the great forests near his boy- 
hood's home in the Berkshire hills, and he loved birds and 
flowers. In addition to his poems, he wrote a poetical 
translation of Homer. 

Other poems suited for children are the well-known " Plant- 
ing of the Apple-Tree," " The Fringed Gentian," and the 
" Yellow Violet." The poem last named has rather too 
long a moral, but of course if the poem is read aloud, the 
moral may be omitted. " Thanatopsis " and " Lines to a 
Water-Fowl," fine as they are, can hardly be given to young 



74 THE TEACHING OF READING 

children. The "Death of the Flowers," once a favorite 
in reading books, was written in memory of Bryant's younger 
sister. 

III. PATRIOTIC SELECTIONS 

The Blue and the Gray, by Francis Miles Finch (148) 

This famous poem was published in 1867, and breathes a 
fine spirit immediately after the bitterness of war. At the 
time it was published, the New York Tribune printed this 
interesting testimony to the magnanimity of a group of 
Southern women. 

" The women of Columbus, Mississippi, . . . have shown 
themselves impartial in their offerings made to the memory 
of the dead. They strewed flowers alike on the graves of 
the Confederate and the National soldiers." 

The Soldier's Reprieve (152) 

There are many stories of Lincoln's gentleness and mercy, 
especially towards the poor and humble. He seems to have 
felt no bitterness, to have cherished no hard feelings towards 
any one, though he could and did sharply rebuke some of 
the public men who interfered with his duty as he saw it. 
There is a fine story, already famous, about Lincoln, by 
Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews. It is called The 
Perfect Tribute. Children of the Fourth Grade could easily 
understand it, if it were read to them. 

Old Ironsides, by Oliver Wendell Holmes (160) 

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1 809-1 894) was an American poet, 
essayist, novelist, and physician. Like Lowell, he was born 



FOURTH READER 75 

at Cambridge and studied at Harvard College. After 
studying law and giving it up, he went to Paris to study 
medicine and remained abroad for two years. The rest of 
his life was spent in Boston. His witty lectures in the 
Harvard Medical School were the delight of the students. 
He was an able doctor and teacher, but when he was nearly 
fifty he gave up medicine for literature. He put his gayety, 
wit, and humor into his poems and his essays as well as 
into his conversation and lectures. Among his many 
achievements was the invention of the stereoscope, still 
used in homes and schools. 

The frigate Constitution was built in 1797. She was 
called Old Ironsides because of her victories over the Brit- 
ish in the War of 1812. One fight was with the frigate 
Guerriere, in the North Atlantic, another with the Java 
near Brazil, and another with the Cyane and the Levant 
off Portugal. Once when she was chased by five British 
vessels, Captain Hull, her commander, was so skillful 
that after four days he brought her safe to Boston Har- 
bor. 

Horace Scudder's Bodley Children gives an account of 
the history of Old Ironsides. So do histories of the United 
States, and such books as Theodore Roosevelt's History of 
the War of 1812. 

Other Holmes poems that could be read to the children 
are : " The Deacon's Masterpiece," " Contentment," 
" Ballad of the Oysterman," " The Broomstick Train," 
"Grandmother's Story of Bunker Hill," "How the Old 
Horse Won the Bet," and " The Last Leaf," which to many 
is his most exquisite poem. It was a favorite of President 
Lincoln's. 



yG THE TEACHING OE READING 

IV. HISTORICAL TALES AND LEGENDS 

Grace Darling (162) 

The teacher may open this lesson by some explanation of 
the dangers of navigation on rocky coasts, and what hap- 
pens to a ship that runs against a rock. After reading, there 
ought to be some talk about other famous heroines : Joan 
of Arc, Mollie Pitcher, Florence Nightingale, for example, 
and about the thousands of devoted and heroic women who 
are in the service of the Red Cross. 

Captain Smith and Pocahontas (171) 
The best supplementary treatment of this selection will 
be to build in more background in the children's minds, by 
telling them about the conditions under which the early 
colonists lived ; of the hardships they endured, the dangers 
from sickness, hunger, wild animals, and Indians; the 
lack of the common necessities and comforts of life. Chil- 
dren should vividly realize their debt to our predecessors 
who broke into the wilderness and made it habitable. 

The Jack-o' -Lantern (175) 
This selection needs the same treatment as the preceding 
story. School histories and such books as Alice Morse 
Earle's Old Colonial Days will furnish interesting material. 
An idealistic account of the freedom and independence of 
pioneer life — for the teacher, not the pupils — is found in 
Crevecceur's Letters of an American Farmer. 

Franklin's First Day in Philadelphia (181) 
This and the two following sketches express admirably 
the spirit of Franklin : his energy, independence, common 



FOURTH READER jj 

sense. Read them for their meaning and their spirit. The 
moral of them is clear in each case. 

The Miller of the Dee, by Charles Mackay (190) 

The author, Charles Mackay (pronounced Mak ki'), a 
Scotch poet, was born in 1814 and died in 1889. King 
Hal in the poem is King Henry VIII of England. Com- 
pare the spirit of independence and self-respect with the 
spirit in the Franklin selections and in " The Village 
Blacksmith." 

The Fairies of the Caldon-Low, by Mary Howitt (193) 

Mary Howitt (1 799-1 888) was the wife of the English 
poet, William Howitt, who wrote "The Wind in a Frolic." 

The poem is to be read as a fairy story and as a fanciful 
interpretation of the beneficent processes of nature ; for 
it is a nature poem, in the guise of a fairy tale. 

Hiawatha's Fasting, by Longfellow (204) 

In the part of this Manual devoted to the Third Reader 
there are some comments on "Hiawatha." The class 
might here be told something further, along these lines : — 

Longfellow had long intended to write a poem about the 
American Indians. So, in one way and another, he learned 
all he could about the stories or legends that had been 
handed down from father to son, and he put those that he 
liked best into the poem " Hiawatha." Writing this poem 
was not work but pleasure. 

The first part of the poem tells us that long ago the Great 
Spirit, who is the God of the Indians, called all his people 



78 THE TEACHING OF READING 

together and bade them stop fighting. He promised to 
send them a great man to teach them and to work for 
them. After a time it happened that a baby boy was 
born. He was named Hiawatha. His father, whose name 
was the West Wind, ran away from Hiawatha's mother and 
she soon died. But he had a good grandmother, who taught 
him the language of birds and animals, and there was an old 
man who taught him how to kill the deer with his bow and 
arrow. Hiawatha grew up to be very strong and wise. He 
hated his father for leaving his mother and he took a long 
journey in order to kill him. The West Wind was truly 
sorry that he had been so unkind to his wife, and he loved 
his son. In the end they became friends. 

The next thing to happen in the poem is Hiawatha's 
fasting. He built a hut in the woods by the lake and went 
without food for seven days and nights. He did this for 
the sake of his people. The first day he looked at the ani- 
mals and birds ; the second day at the berries and grapes ; 
and the third day at the fish, and he saw that all these things 
together could not supply his people with enough food. 

V. STORIES OF CHILD LIFE 

Maggie and the Gypsies, by George Eliot (213) 

"Maggie and the Gypsies" is an incident from The Mill 
on the Floss, a novel by George Eliot, whose real name was 
Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880). She was born and brought 
up in Warwickshire among country sights and sounds. 
She did not attempt the writing of fiction until she was over 
thirty-five, when her husband, Mr. Lewes, suggested her 
trying her hand at it. Her greatest novels are those pic- 



FOURTH READER 79 

turing the places, habits, and persons that she knew when 
she was young. To many people, the best are Adam Bede, 
Silas Marner, which is hardly a novel, and The Mill on the 
Floss. Maggie Tulliver is in many ways like George Eliot 
herself, most of all perhaps in her intense craving for af- 
fection. The class should understand that it was chiefly 
Tom's unkindness that made her run away. 

The class will enjoy hearing read the account of the trou- 
ble that led to Maggie's running away, in Chapter X. Other 
scenes are very readable : Maggie cutting her hair, in Chap- 
ter VII ; the jam puffs, in Chapter VI ; or the quarrel be- 
tween Maggie and Tom because she had forgotten about the 
rabbits, in Chapter V ; or Maggie in the attic, in Chap- 
ter IV. 

By way of amplifying the brief introductory note in the 
Reader, the teacher might further tell the class : 

Maggie Tulliver was the daughter of a miller who 
lived on the bank of the Floss River. She was very, very 
fond of her brother Tom, who was older than she. One day 
her cousin Lucy came to pay a visit at the Tullivers'. Lucy 
looked like a white kitten and Maggie like a dark overgrown 
puppy. Maggie admired Lucy very much, but to-day there 
was trouble. It began when Tom wanted to show Lucy a 
water-snake and rudely told Maggie to go away, for no 
one had asked her to come. This hurt Maggie's feelings 
and made her so angry that she pushed Lucy into the mud. 

Then while Tom and Lucy walked off to the house, she 
felt so miserable that she made up her mind to run off and 
live with the gypsies. She had often thought of doing so 
before, when her relations had told her that she was brown 
and half-wild like a gypsy. 



8o THE TEACHING OF READING 

Maggie, the different gypsies, her father, the gypsy dog, 
may well be made the dramatis personae of a little play. 
The gypsy group around the fire might furnish an excellent 
spectacle — the donkey must not be forgotten. 

The children will enjoy this little poem, though its author 
is unknown and it is hardly a classic. 

When the Little Boy Ran Away 

When the little boy ran away from home, 

The birds in the tree tops knew, 
And they all sang " Stay ! " 
But he wandered away 

Under the skies of blue. 
And the wind came whispering from the tree, 

" Follow — follow me ! " 
And it sang him a song that was soft and sweet, 
And scattered the roses before his feet 

That day — that day 

When the little boy ran away. 

The violet whispered : " Your eyes are blue 

And lovely and bright to see ; 
And so are mine, and I'm kin to you, 

So dwell in the light with me ! " 
But the little boy laughed, while the wind in glee, 
Said, " Follow me — follow me ! " 

And the wind called the clouds from their home in the skies, 
And said to the violet, " Shut your eyes ! " 

That day — that day 

When the little boy ran away. 



FOURTH READER { 

Then the wind played leapfrog over the hills, 

And twisted each leaf and limb ; 
And all the rivers and all the rills 

Were foaming mad with him ! 
And it was dark as darkest night could be, 
But still came the wind's voice, " Follow me ! " 
And over the mountain and up from the hollow 
Came echoing voices with " Follow him, follow ! " 

That awful day 

When the little boy ran away. 

Then the little boy cried, " Let me go — let me go ! " 

For a scared, scared boy was he ! 
But the thunder growled from the black cloud, " No ! " 

And the wind roared, " Follow me ! " 
And an old gray Owl from a tree top flew 
Saying, " Who are you-oo ? Who are you-oo ? " 
And the little boy sobbed, " I'm lost away, 
And I want to go home where my parents stay ! " 

Oh ! the awful day 

When the little boy ran away. 

Then the Moon looked out from the cloud and said, 

" Are you sorry you ran away ? 
If I light you home to your trundle-bed, 

Will you stay, little boy, will you stay ? " 
And the little boy promised — and cried and cried — 
He would never leave his mother's side ; 
And the Moonlight led him over the plain, 
And his mother welcomed him home again, 

But oh ! what a day 

When the little boy ran away ! 

G 



82 THE TEACHING OF READING 

Cosette, by Victor Hugo (227) 

This is an incident in Les Miserables, one of the novels 
written by Victor Hugo (1 802-1 885), a famous French poet, 
playwright, and novelist. He had a generous, fiery na- 
ture, full of pity for the unfortunate. After the Revolution 
of 1848 he was exiled from France for twenty years, during 
which time he made his home in the Channel Islands. 
The French admire him most for his great lyrical gift. 
Other nations like his novels better, for they can be more 
easily translated. 

If the children desire to know more about Jean Valjean, 
they might well be told the story of the good bishop whose 
loving heart made a man out of a degraded convict, and how 
Jean Valjean, after he had become the mayor of a city, 
gave himself up to the police because another man was 
accused of a theft that he himself had committed years 
before. 

" Cosette " lends itself especially well to dramatization. It 
can be divided into scenes : The Kitchen Inn ; The Street (a 
little girl might be the doll) ; The Spring ; The Inn Kitchen ; 
The Sleeping House. Care should be taken to preserve the 
extreme gentleness of Cosette — she is not angry or bitter ; 
she does not scream or call names. Jean Valjean is never 
violent either. He is a man of about fifty-five but looks 
older, for his hair is white and his face pale, but he is not 
bent. Madame Thenardier is tall and large with a red face 
and a rough voice. 

By way of getting the class still more into sympathy with 
the story, the teacher might tell them something more of 
the history of little Cosette. 



FOURTH READER 83 

Cosette was a pretty and happy little girl until she was 
about three years old. Then everything changed. Her 
mother was very poor and had to earn her living and so she 
could not take care of her little daughter herself. While 
she was wondering what to do about it, she saw two happy 
healthy little girls playing with Cosette. She then asked 
their mother, Madame Thenardier, to take Cosette too, 
and she promised to pay for her board and lodging. So 
Madame Thenardier took Cosette away with her, saying 
that she would treat her like her own daughters. The 
story will tell you how she kept this promise. 

After the reading of the story the class might be 
told:— 

Perhaps you would like to know that Cosette's troubles 
were now over. The next morning the stranger brought 
good clothing for Cosette and took her away from the 
wicked Thenardier family. The clothing was black, for 
Cosette's mother was now dead, though the little daughter 
did not know it for a long time. She went away to Paris 
with the stranger, and there for years they lived very happily. 
He loved her as if she were his own child and she often said 
to herself that he was like the good God. 

Heidi's First Day on the Mountain, by Johanna Spyri (243) 

This and the next selection are taken from a book whose 
name is Heidi, by Johanna Spyri, a Swiss woman who was 
born in 1829 and lived at Zurich. As she had a great many 
brothers and sisters, she knew a great deal about children. 
Heidi is a favorite among the children of Switzerland, 
Germany, and America. The book was written in German. 



84 THE TEACHING OF READING 

Heidi is a little Swiss girl about five years old, who lost 
her parents when she was a baby. For a time she lived with 
an aunt. One June day the aunt dressed her in nearly all 
her dresses so that no one would have to carry them, and 
together they climbed up the Aim mountain, where Heidi's 
grandfather lived. When the aunt told him that he must 
take care of Heidi now, the grandfather was much dis- 
pleased. But after he had sent the aunt away with rough 
words, he began to be interested in Heidi, who looked all 
around the one-roomed hut like a little woman, and at 
last chose to sleep in a hayloft which she reached by a lad- 
der from the hut. He was pleased, too, because she liked 
to drink goat's milk, and still more pleased when she ad- 
mired his two beautiful little goats. In the middle of the 
night he went up the ladder to see whether she was sleep- 
ing comfortably. The selection tells what happened the 
next day. 

Peter was a boy who took care of goats. He was so poor 
that he had never had enough to eat. That is the reason 
why he was surprised at Heidi's large lunch. 

Heidi's Return, by Johanna Spyri (255) 

Heidi lived on very happily with her grandfather until 
she was nearly eight years old. She did not go to school 
and could not read or write. One March day her aunt 
came again to the mountain, for she had secured a pleasant 
position for Heidi in Germany, and she thought that the 
grandfather and Heidi would both be delighted. It was not 
so. The grandfather was angry and Heidi did not want 
to leave the mountain, but she had to go away at last. 
In her new home some people were kind and some were very 



FOURTH READER 85 

rude, and they were all astonished because she was not like 
other children. City life did not agree with Heidi. She 
grew more homesick all the time, and at last became pale 
and thin and began to walk about in her sleep. Then the 
doctor said that she must be sent back home. 

Klara is the German way of spelling Clara. She was 
the lame girl whose companion Heidi was. Heidi does not 
say anything about the people who were unkind to her. 
After a while Klara was brought to the mountain. The 
fine air and the goat's milk did her so much good that she 
grew strong and could walk like other people. 

The Village Blacksmith, by Longfellow (265) 

This poem shows a picture familiar to all country chil- 
dren, a picture likely to grow less familiar as the use of the 
automobile grows more general. The blacksmith is making 
horseshoes rather than shoeing horses. The poem teaches 
the dignity of labor, and shows that life is made up of toil 
and rest, rejoicing and sorrow. Perhaps for the children 
the best lesson is that the man who earns his living can 
stand up and look the whole world in the face. Compare 
with this " The Miller of the Dee." 

There are many others of Longfellow's poems that the class 
would enjoy hearing or reading: " Excelsior," "The Rainy 
Day," " Daybreak," " Rain in Summer " (first part), 
" The Old Clock on the Stairs," " The Skeleton in Armor," 
" The Children's Hour," and " From my Armchair." 

On Longfellow's seventy-second birthday the children of 
Cambridge presented him with a chair made from the wood 
of " the spreading chestnut-tree " that had stood over the 



86 THE TEACHING OF READING 

• 
village smithy. This led Longfellow to write the poem, 

" From My Armchair." In this poem he tells us about 
the thick shade cast by the tree, about its white and fra- 
grant blossom in the spring, and its brown nuts in the 
fall. 

The blacksmith's shop, or the smithy, as Longfellow says, 
was on Brattle Street, Cambridge, and the name of the 
blacksmith who worked there when this poem was written 
was Dexter Pratt. 

Jackanapes and the Pony, by Juliana H. Ewing (269) 

Mrs. Ewing is an English author of the nineteenth century 
who has written some delightful things for children. Daddy 
Darwin's Dove-Cot is another of them. She catches the 
spirit of English life among the better classes, — its gen- 
tleness, its humor, its loyalty, and its pluck. The old 
General has been in military service in India nearly all his 
life, and is now retired from service and home for good. 
His son, the father of Jackanapes, is dead, — killed at 
Waterloo. The golden-haired daughter (his daughter-in- 
law) whom he never saw was the mother of Jackanapes. 
The boy's real name is given in the text. 

Some of the names of things peculiar to England will 
need explanation. But the children will have no difficulty 
in entering into the spirit of the story ; and older people 
need have no shame in confessing a liking for it. 

The Cruise of the Dolphin, by Thomas Aldrich (286) 

Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836-1907) was a versatile 
American writer, whose works comprise stories and poems 



FOURTH READER 87 

of many sorts. He was also a journalist. His early boy- 
hood was spent in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he 
was born. He often wrote of this town, usually calling it 
Rivermouth. His Story of a Bad Boy is an admirable book 
for young people, for the boy is not really bad, but only 
human. 

The children will enjoy hearing his poem, " Baby Bell," 
read. And they should by all means have a chance to read 
for themselves his delightful translation of Daudet's story, 
Mother Michel's Cat (pronounced Do da' and Me shel'). 
It is an old French nursery story, full of life and humor. 

The Skating Race, by Mary Mapes Dodge (308) 

Hans Brinker was written by Mary Mapes Dodge (1838- 
1905), an American editor and writer for young people. 
This book has been translated into five European languages. 
It was crowned by the French Academy. 

Hans Brinker and his sister live with their mother and 
their invalid father. They are very poor. The father 
had an accident, a blow on the head, which left his mind 
blank and dull. At the end of the story, a great surgeon 
performs an operation on the father that restores his strength 
and his mind. 

The book is full of information about Holland. It makes 
one admire these wonderful, plucky, ingenious, and inde- 
pendent people. But most readers of it like best the boy 
and his sister, Hans and Gretel. (By the way, will the 
children identify this pair of names as the title of a famous 
fairy tale told by the Grimm brothers ?) 



88 THE TEACHING OF READING 

VI. STORIES AND POEMS 

Woodman, Spare that Tree, by George Morris (319) 

This poem was written by George Pope Morris (1802- 
1864), an American poet and journalist, who spent most of 
his life in New York. " We Were Boys Together," is an- 
other of his songs that every one used to know. 

Thomas Hood's " I remember, I remember," given in 
the Third Reader, belongs to the same general class. So 
does " The Old Oaken Bucket," by Samuel Woodworth, 
in the Fifth Reader. 

Little Daffydowndilry, by Nathaniel Hawthorne (321) 

This is an excellent example of Hawthorne's skill in 
writing for children. He could give information without 
patronizing, and convey a moral without offending. These 
two graces of style arose from his urbanity and his humor. 
Like the author of the Alice books, he knew how to blend 
humor and instruction. (May one not pause here to won- 
der whether we teachers do so often enough ?) 

The children should be told a little about Hawthorne's 
life. His dates are 1 804-1 864. He was born at Salem, 
Massachusetts ; lived for a time, while a boy, in Maine, near 
Sebago Lake, not far from Portland, where Longfellow lived ; 
graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825, in the same class 
with Longfellow ; wrote some unsuccessful little stories 
and sketches in his boyhood and early manhood ; served 
for a time as Collector of the Port in Salem ; became famous 
as a writer shortly after ; served for a time as United States 
consul at Liverpool, England ; came back and lived until 
his death in Concord, near Emerson's home. He was a 



FOURTH READER 89 

shy and sensitive man, fond of lonely walks in the country, 
fond of children and animals and flowers. 

The children should read his stories from Greek mythology : 
A Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales (Macmillan, Pocket 
Classics). These were first told to his own children. 

Casabianca, by Felicia Dorothea Hemans (332) 

Mrs. Felicia Dorothea Hemans (pronounced Hem'anz) 
( I 793 -I 835)> was an English poet, of Irish descent. She 
grew up in a charming old house by the sea with the Welsh 
mountains at its back. She began to write verse while 
she was a little girl, and she wrote a great deal before her 
rather short life ended. Sir Walter Scott was her friend. 
He entertained her and some of her children at his beautiful 
home at Abbotsford. 

Mrs. Hemans's poems were very popular at one time. 
A few lyrics are still familiar to every one ; among them are 
" The Landing of the Pilgrims " and " The Homes of 
England." Both are suitable reading for children, who 
ought really to know the first by heart. 

It may be that the boy Casabianca had a notion of duty 
that outran common sense. If the children see this flaw 
in it, don't scold them. Admit it, and say merely that 
the author wanted to make an extreme case, and that the 
poem has long stood as an expression of complete obedience 
and courage. 

Home, Sweet Home, by John Howard Payne (335) 

This song was written by John Howard Payne (1791- 
1852), an American born in New York. He spent much of 



90 THE TEACHING OF READING 

his boyhood at Easthampton, Long Island, and it was of 
his home in this place that he was thinking when he wrote 
his song. When he was young he was a successful actor, 
both in America and England. When he was a little over 
twenty he left America, not to return for nineteen years. 
After a time he gave up acting and wrote plays. He spent 
part of his time in Paris, for he often adapted French plays 
for the English stage. He was sometimes rich and several 
times imprisoned for debt. 

" Home, Sweet Home " was written in Paris at a time when 
Payne was feeling very homesick. It was once thought 
that he was living in a garret, but this is not true. The 
song was written for a play called Clari, adapted from the 
French, and it was first heard in London at the Covent 
Garden Theatre, sung by a sister of the famous actress, 
Ellen Terry. Ellen Terry afterwards sang it herself. Payne 
returned to his country in 1832, and was later made consul 
at Tunis, where he died without a friend or relative near 
him. The music to which " Home Sweet Home " was set 
was not written for the song. It had been used before, but 
it harmonizes so perfectly with the words of the song that 
most people think it was written for it. The deep and true 
feeling of the song, its simple diction, and the inevitable 
quality of the refrain have made " Home, Sweet Home " 
perhaps the most widely known song wherever English is 
spoken. 

A Mad Tea Party, by Lewis Carroll (337) 

This is perhaps the best chapter in this great classic of 
the world of humor. The inconsequences, the sudden 
turns and twists of the conversation, until poor Alice is quite 



FOURTH READER 91 

bewildered, are unsurpassed. The book itself has the unique 
distinction of beginning a new type of literature : there was 
nothing like it before ; there have been many imitations 
since. 

A word as to the value of this sort of thing may be per- 
tinent. Humor is a preservative of sanity and good tem- 
per ; it ought to be in the schoolroom. We teachers need 
it, as well as the pupils. It requires intellectual acumen and 
Tightness to see the jokes : a dull mind can't. So the chil- 
dren have their minds quickened. To see the unreason in 
a remark or situation involves an exercise of one's reason. 
Is it a startling claim, then, that reading this kind of clever 
nonsense helps to teach one to think ? 

The teacher may need to give a hint now and then, to 
explain the point of a joke. This is usually best done by 
a pointed question, the answer to which brings out the in- 
congruity on which the joke is based. 

Many of Dodgson's intellectual jokes are still remem- 
bered. Here is one that gave him a good deal of fun at the 
expense of his brother mathematicians : 

A rope runs over a pulley, one end short and one end 
long, both ends hanging free. A monkey is on the short 
end of the rope, and his weight just exactly balances the 
other end so that the rope remains still. What will happen 
if the monkey begins to climb ? 

Hundreds of answers were sent to him, by people of 
mathematical inclinations. It is a teasing problem, is 
it not ? 

When he asked the riddle in this selection about a raven 
and a writing-desk, he had no answer in mind. But so many 
letters were written asking the answer, that he had to in- 



92 THE TEACHING OF READING 

vent one, — a rather poor one, as he himself admitted : 
Because each has a few notes. 

Some simple sketch of his life and character should be 
told the children, something like this: — 

Alice in Wonderland was written by Lewis Carroll, an 
Englishman. As you read about the adventures of Alice, 
you find out that he was fond of children and fond of fun. 
When he was a little boy he made trains and trucks for his 
brothers and sisters, and he liked to draw pictures. Al- 
though he was kind and gentle, he could use his fists to 
keep big boys from tormenting little ones. 

He went to a college at Oxford, a city that is full of beau- 
tiful buildings, and he lived there all the rest of his life. He 
made his living by teaching mathematics and writing 
books about mathematics, and sometimes he preached ser- 
mons, but not often, for he stammered. 

Lewis Carroll enjoyed himself most when he was playing 
with children or writing books for them. As he had no 
children of his own, he was always making friends with 
other people's children. One of his child friends was Alice 
Liddell. To please her and her two sisters, he made up the 
story of a little girl's adventures in Wonderland, while all 
four were rowing on a river near Oxford. That is the rea- 
son why he named the little girl in the story Alice. Lewis 
Carroll had many, many other child friends. Most of them 
were girls, and he pretended that he was afraid of boys. He 
was fond of walking along the seashore in the summer, 
because there were always so many children there. He 
could tell fairy stories by the hour and he was never too 
tired to write funny letters to his little friends. 

Besides Alice in Wonderland he wrote Through the Look- 



FOURTH READER 93 

ing Glass, which has in it a strange beast called the Jabber- 
wock. Another book of fun is The Hunting of the Snark, a 
poem, which one of his little friends at once committed to 
memory. 

Lewis Carroll was not his real name. That was Charles 
Lutwidge Dodgson. But we always speak of him and 
think of him as Lewis Carroll, because that name was the 
one he used when he wrote books for children. 

When he died in 1898, at the age of sixty-six, his friends 
gave a great deal of money to a hospital for children so that 
forever and ever some poor sick child could be nursed and 
taken care of. They knew that this would have pleased 
Lewis Carroll far better than an expensive monument. 



Printed in the United States of America. 



THE 
TEACHING OF READING 

A MANUAL 

TO ACCOMPANY 

EVERYDAY CLASSICS 
Fifth and Sixth Readers 

BY 

FRANKLIN T. BAKER 

n 

PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH IN TEACHERS COLLEGE 

AND SUPERVISOR OF ENGLISH IN THE 

HORACE MANN SCHOOL 

AND 

ASHLEY H. THORNDIKE 

PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

1917 

All rights reserved 



Copyright, 1917, 
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up and electrotyped. Published April, 1917. 



Nortoooti 5P«83 

J. S. Cushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 

Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



FIFTH READER 

The Fifth Reader is primarily a story-book. The Third 
Reader has introduced the child to folk and fairy myth and 
legend, and the Fourth Reader has given prominence to out- 
of-door life and nature study ; now the Fifth Reader offers 
a notable collection of the best stories for boys and girls in 
both prose and verse. 

With such a collection, the first objects in teaching are to 
make sure that the children understand the stories and that 
they can read them intelligently. The Helps to Study in the 
Reader itself provide sufficient information to remove the 
difficulties and enable the child to come to the story with 
interest. They also offer questions on the content of the 
selections. Their purpose is always to make sure that the 
child gets at the heart of the story. That surely is the essen- 
tial thing, yet we all know how often it is missed in our read- 
ing lessons. 

What is the story about ? Who are the persons ? Is there 
a hero or heroine ? When did it take place ? Has it any 
moral or lesson ? Can you put the gist of the story into a 
sentence or two ? These are the questions to which the 
teacher herself should have answers and with which she 
should make sure that the story lives for the class. Not 
every story is of great importance, but it has some meaning ; 

3 



4 THE TEACHING OF READING . 

and it is this meaning to which both textbook and teacher 
should guide the child. 

Many of the stories in the Reader are stories of action, of 
heroic deed or adventure. Some of the great deeds of his- 
tory and legend are celebrated, as the Landing of the Pil- 
grims, the Siege of Leyden, and the Expedition for the Golden 
Fleece. Some of the heroes of stirring deeds appear, as 
Robin Hood, Robinson Crusoe, Arnold of Winkelried, 
William Tell, and Paul Revere. There is an opportunity to 
make these stories, once they are clearly understood, enforce 
lessons, point out essential virtues, and interest the children 
in ideals of conduct. 

In connection with this purpose, one section of the Reader 
is given to great men and women, as General Grant, General 
Lee, and Joan of Arc. Moreover, attention to nobility of 
conduct is not aroused merely through the great men and 
women of history and fiction. There are stories of brave 
and kindly children : — of Tom Brown in the football 
match, of John Halifax, who, though only a vagabond 
boy was yet a gentleman, and of children who celebrated 
Christmas in the real Christmas spirit of sacrifice. And 
there are stories of heroic animals, of the dog who saved 
his master, and the horse that brought the good news 
to Aix. 

One word about the moral in these stories. Sometimes 
there isn't any, as in a story of wonder like " Aladdin and his 
Lamp." When there is a moral it is always a simple one. 
If the child understands the story, he can scarcely miss 
the lesson. The teacher may help to make it plain and 
to drive it home. But a great deal of sermonizing is 
unnecessary. 



FIFTH READER 5 

Order of the Selections 

Not all the selections are stories and not all the stories deal 
with heroism and adventure. The selections are arranged 
in groups according to the nature of the contents. 

I. School Days. 

II. Heroism and Adventure. 

III. Battle and Bravery. 

IV. Great Men and Great Women. 
V. Animals. 

VI. Home and Country. 
VII. Boys and Girls. 
VIII. Two Christmases. 

IX. Wonder and Enchantment. 

In general this seems an interesting arrangement for the aver- 
age class, and it permits of careful grading, the longer and 
more difficult stories coming in the second half of the book. 

Every teacher, however, should feel free to change the 
order to suit the special needs of her class. Group I on 
School Days, might, for example, be postponed until after 
Group II, on Heroism and Adventure. Or, after the children 
have read several of the selections in Group I, the longer 
stories, the " Last Lesson " and " Football at Rugby," 
might be omitted until later. The two Christmas Stories 
in Group VIII are interesting to read together, but they are 
also interesting to read separately, in connection with other 
stories. The teacher will find it easy to change the order to 
suit special occasions or needs. 

The selections in this volume, as in the others in the series, 
are all well-known classics. Some of them have been told 



6 THE TEACHING OF READING 

to many generations of children, all have a place in the 
permanent literature of our race. Because the story is old, 
however, is no sign that it is well known to the child. The 
purpose of the book is to bring the child into a knowledge and 
appreciation of the stories that his parents have known before 
him and that he in turn may later enjoy with his children. 
In this book, literature should be performing for children its 
great task of socializing sentiment and feeling. The child is 
being introduced to the heritage of the race. 

In later Readers in this series more attention may well be 
paid to special literary values and appreciations. In this 
book, little attention should be directed to particular merits 
of style, or characteristics of the author ; but the main con- 
cern should be to introduce the child to a story which the 
teacher knows to be a classic. Because it is old, well known, 
because it was read by her as a child, is precisely why the 
teacher should be well prepared to make the child feel its 
interest and enjoy the deeds and sentiments that have 
already stirred many thousands of children. 

Literary Study and Biography 

Certain phases of literary study, however, should not be 
neglected. Many of the selections are poems, and attention 
should be paid to reading verse aloud. Nothing is more 
necessary for the right appreciation of poetry than the habit 
of reading verse and hearing it read with attention both to 
sense and to meter. In the notes for teachers which follow, 
especial attention is paid to the correct reading and apprecia- 
tion both of the short poem and also of the long narrative 
poem, as the " Pied Piper." Again, in a book representing 
so many famous authors, it is desirable that the children 



FIFTH READER 7 

learn something of their lives and work. The amount of this 
kind of study can be determined by the teacher. The Notes 
supply or suggest material for all the authors. But the 
teacher will do well to limit her efforts to a few. Goldsmith, 
Dickens, Scott, Defoe, Tennyson, Browning, Ruskin, George 
Eliot, and Shakespeare are some of the best-known English 
authors included ; and Hawthorne, Eggleston, Longfellow, 
Lowell, and Bryant are the best known of the Americans. 
It is much better, however, that the child really become 
interested in the lives and work of three or four of these, than 
for him to get a smattering of information about all of them. 
In the Reader itself, the lives of only a few authors have 
been treated at length. Goldsmith, Scott, Ruskin, Brown- 
ing, Hawthorne, Bryant, and Shakespeare are those who 
have received special attention. Many of the other authors 
are treated in other books in this Series, and material for all 
the authors is supplied in the Manual. 

Helps to Study 

The Helps to Study after each selection in the Reader contain 
nothing which is not addressed to the pupil. They usually consist 
of three parts. 

I. Introductory Matter. This gives biographical, historical, 
and other information necessary to introduce the child to the selec- 
tion. In some cases this material precedes, and in some cases it 
follows the selection, forming the first paragraph under the Helps 
to Study. Both the arrangement and the matter itself are deter- 
mined by the nature of the selection. In the case of an extract 
from a long historical narrative, as the " Siege of Leyden," some 
introductory comment is desirable before the child begins to read. 
In the case of a poem whose opening lines command attention, as 
the "Hunting Song," it seems best to give the child the poem first, 



8 THE TEACHING OF READING 

and the historical information afterwards. The nature of the 
introductory matter naturally varies with each selection. Its 
purpose is not to give elaborate biographical or literary comment 
but to find the best way of aiding the pupil's interest and appre- 
ciation. 

II. Questions, (i) These questions are in part on the contents 
of the selection. They test the pupil's knowledge of what he has 
read, and guide him in the right interpretation. The teacher 
should make sure that the class use these questions in studying the 
lessons, and should often call for answers in the classroom. There 
is, however, a danger of making questions and answers more im- 
portant than intelligent and distinct reading. The teacher will 
often put stress on expressive reading rather than on questions on 
the content. 

(2) Other questions are on the application of the selection to 
the child's experience or reading. Such questions are sometimes 
grouped in a second paragraph. They are not intended to be ex- 
haustive but to be suggestive for further discussion in the class. 

(3) Occasionally such questions are grouped as Review Ques- 
tions, recalling the connection of the selection with preceding 
selections, or applying its moral in the light of earlier reading. 

(4) Many of the questions deal with details of word, phrase, 
figure of speech, or meter. In the Fifth Reader, however, this de- 
tailed study of the text is never emphasized at the expense of the 
interest in the selection as a whole. Further study of words and 
phrases is provided under the heading : — 

III. For Study with the Glossary. This includes lists of diffi- 
cult words and phrases. In case of unusual, obsolete, or foreign 
words, the definition and pronunciation are given. But usually 
the pupil is referred to the Glossary. By the time the pupil has 
reached the Fifth Reader, the reading lesson should not be mainly 
a drill on vocabulary. The pupil should begin to use the dic- 
tionary freely ; and as a convenient substitute for a dictionary, the 
Glossary at the end of the book is offered. There the pronuncia- 
tion of each word is indicated, the diacritical marks of Webster's 
dictionary being used. The words are also carefully defined. 



FIFTH READER 9 

Drill on Words and Phrases 

How shall the words and phrases " For Study with the Glossary" 
be treated by the teacher ? Manifestly, the class will need a good 
deal of guidance and testing before they can be trusted to use the 
Glossary with intelligence and security. 

First of all, there should be exercises on How to use the Glos- 
sary. The pupils should look up the words in the classroom, and 
the teacher should test their results. During the early weeks of 
the school-year, these exercises should be frequent. 

After a fair efficiency in using the Glossary has been acquired, 
the classroom use of the lists of words and phrases may be con- 
siderably varied. Speaking broadly, however, there are two main 
methods. 

1. Preparatory Study of Words and Phrases. By this method 
the teacher will call attention to the words " For Study with the 
Glossary," on the day before the selection is read. In assigning 
the lesson for study, a few minutes will be taken to run over the 
list of difficult words ; the teacher herself giving the correct pro- 
nunciations. This preparatory drill is of more importance for 
pronunciation than for definition and is indispensable with selec- 
tions containing many foreign or difficult names. 

2. Supplementary Study of Words and Phrases. After the 
selection has been read in the class, notice may be taken of any 
words that give difficulty in meaning or grammar. The work of 
the class with the Glossary can be tested and the discussion 
utilized in the better interpretation of the selection. 

The two methods can often be combined, but undoubtedly for 
the Fifth Reader the preparatory method must frequently be em- 
ployed. However, it will.be found that many of the selections 
offer little difficulty in words and phrases, and can be read without 
preliminary drill. This is particularly true of some of the longer 
selections in the later part of the book, as the " King of the 
Golden River." 

The lists under " For Study with the Glossary " serve not only as 
a guide to the pupils but as a convenient indication to the teacher 
as to method of treatment. 



IO THE TEACHING OF READING 

A word may be added as to pronunciation and definition. Pro- 
nunciation is better taught by example than by precept. If the 
teacher is careful in maintaining clear and correct pronunciation 
in the reading and discussion, there will be little need for special 
drill. 

Definitions are of little value in fixing the meaning of words. 
The way to know a word is to use it. The employment of new 
words in oral and written exercises as well as in the reading lessons, 
is the best way to strengthen the pupil's vocabulary. 



General Method 

With many variations, the methods of using the Reader will 
follow this general outline. 

i. Assignment of Selection, with brief talk on the subject of 
the selection or on new words and phrases. 

2. Preparation by pupils at their desks or at home of the lesson, 
with the aid of the Helps to Study and of the Glossary. 

3. Classroom discussion of the selection, and test of the pupil's 
preparation. Reading aloud, with careful attention to pronun- 
ciation, enunciation, and expression. 

4. Further work will be determined by the nature of the se- 
lection. There may be further intensive study of words and 
expressions, or a rapid re-reading, or a continued discussion of 
matters raised by the reading and study. 

The Helps to Study with the Glossary provide all that 
the class will need for its guidance. This Manual offers 
supplementary suggestions on each selection. They are not 
to be used in any cut-and-dried fashion, but may be of 
service in adding to the pleasure or information of the pupils 
or in encouraging further reading. They may also help 
the teacher in answering for herself the question, "Why is 
this a classic ?" 



FIFTH READER II 

NOTES ON THE SELECTIONS 

I. SCHOOL DAYS 

The book opens with a group of selections telling of 
schools of various times and countries. These selections 
may be used to encourage an interest on the part of the 
children in their school. It may be compared with the 
schools described and its advantage over them indicated. 
Something of the improvements that modern schools have 
secured over those of past times may be suggested by the 
first four selections. The service of the school to the nation 
is shown by the "Last Lesson" of Daudet, and the moral 
value of school athletics appears in "Football at Rugby." 
The schools in the selections all belong to past times, but 
they can be made real and vivid by comparison with the 
present, 

If the teacher prefers, this group may well be divided, 
and the last two selections reserved for later reading. 

An Old-Fashioned School, by Nathaniel Hawthorne (n) 

This is not a story, but a description. The important 
lesson is that the children should see clearly the things de- 
scribed : the schoolroom, the schoolmaster, the classes of 
boys. Since the description is of an old-time school, its 
differences from a school of to-day should be made plain. 
These differences are to be seen in the room, in the dress of 
the master and boys, in the lessons recited, and in the 
punishments. 

The selection contains some difficult phrases. "His 
Majesty's Council" must be explained as referring to the 



12 THE TEACHING OF READING 

time when the King of England was also king of this coun- 
try. "Generations of schoolboys" is another phrase which 
the imagination of a child will scarcely seize without a little 
explanation. As parents belong to one generation, children 
to another, and their children to a third, so the old school- 
master has seen one class of boys grow to manhood, followed 
by another and another, like so many generations. And 
the teacher may well make sure what the children under- 
stand by Latin. 

Attention may also be called to the fact that there are no 
girls in Master Cheever's school. Girls and the smaller 
boys in Colonial days went to dame schools, taught by 
women, where they learned reading and writing. Has any 
pupil ever seen a sampler such as the girls made at the dame 
schools ? 

Nathaniel Hawthorne's life is treated in connection with 
the "Pine Tree Shillings" on p. 75 of the Reader. The 
opening pages of his Grandfather's Chair might be read 
aloud to the class if time permits. Other selections from 
that volume are to be found on pp. 69-88 of the Reader. 

Topics for Oral or Written Composition. Master Cheever's 
Schoolroom. Our Schoolroom. Our Class in Reading. 
Master Cheever. 

The Village Schoolmaster, by Oliver Goldsmith (17) 

This famous passage from Goldsmith's "Deserted Village" 
describes another schoolmaster who may be compared with 
Master Ezekiel Cheever. It is written in couplets, two 
rhyming lines, and should be read aloud with a marked 
pause at the end of each couplet. And the teacher should 
make sure that the pupil understands each couplet by itself. 



FIFTH READER 13 

Note that the last and best-known couplet sums up the 
whole description. 

The village schoolmaster is described as seen by his pupils 
and the villagers ; so his importance is exaggerated with a 
kindly humor. This mock exaggeration extends to the 
language. His schoolroom is a " noisy mansion," the bad 
boys are " boding tremblers," the farmers are " gazing 
rustics," and large words from the schoolmaster have a 
" thundering sound." Do the children get the humor of 
the description ? Can they pick out any other of the 
humorous exaggerations ? 

An account of Oliver Goldsmith is given on p. 219 in 
connection 'with the selection " Moses Goes to the Fair." 
Another well-known description of a schoolmaster is Cecil 
Alexander's poem, the " Jolly Old Pedagogue." 

Squeers's School, by Charles Dickens (19) 

The description of Squeers's school furnishes an example of 
a bad teacher, but it may be read with stress mainly on the 
humor. The children should see the absurdity of a teacher 
who makes mistakes in spelling and grammar and who 
thinks that " quadruped " is Latin. Attention must also 
be called to the genuinely practical mode of teaching as 
shown in manual training or cooking classes. " Philos- 
ophy " seems to be used by Squeers in its old sense of natural 
philosophy, or science. The class should know the correct 
spelling of botany, and should pronounce the adjective 
learned in "his learned eye" (p. 19, 1. 4). 

An account of Charles Dickens and the story of David 
Copperfield's experience at school are given in the Sixth 



14 THE TEACHING OF READING 

Reader. If time permits, the teacher might read aloud 
from Nicholas Nickleby selections about the school in 
Chapters VII and VIII, or the account of Nickleby's 
revolt against Squeers in Chapter XIII. 

Topics for Oral or Written Composition. The • Three 
Schoolmasters : Ezekiel Cheever, The Wonder of the 
Village, Squeers. Practical Education To-day. " What 
Is the Use of Having Grammars at All ? " 

The New Teacher, by Edward Eggleston (21) 

This is a story of a successful teacher who taught a lesson 
to a bad boy. In contrast to the preceding selection it 
shows a school conducted on right principles. It is also 
interesting as giving a picture of an ungraded rural school 
such as was common in this country for many years and 
such as exists in many places to-day. If yours is a city 
school the children should be told of the condition of 
schools in the country. If yours is a country school, stress 
may be put on the services of a country school for its 
district. 

The Hoosier Schoolmaster is perhaps the best novel by 
Edward Eggleston (1837-1902) and it may be considered 
an American classic because of the picture which it pre- 
sents of life in Indiana, when that state was still the 
frontier. Other novels by Eggleston are the Circuit Rider, 
Roxy, and the Hoosier Schoolboy. 

Topics for Oral or Written Composition. Compare Mr. 
Squeers and Mr. Williams. The Little Red Schoolhouse. 
An Incident in My School. Why I Should Learn Good 
Manners. How Did Riley Feel ? 



FIFTH READER 15 

The Last Lesson, by Alphonse Daudet (26) 

This beautiful story is told throughout strictly from a 
child's point of view. Every incident, every detail is as a 
little boy would see it and feel about it. The class should 
be able to follow the story without difficulty. But its full 
meaning perhaps lies beyond the sense of any child. The 
pathos of the loss of country and language cannot readily be 
felt by those who have not experienced it ; but the story 
suggests even to children what is meant by love of country 
and of the mother tongue. What the master said of the 
French language may be applied to our own, and the thoughts 
of little Franz may well be those of every child as he sur- 
mounts the difficulties of verbs and grammar. 

Alphonse Daudet (Do da'), (1 840-1 897), was a noted 
French novelist and humorist. His Tartarin of Tarascon, 
a bragging humbug, is one of the famous humorous charac- 
ters in fiction. 

After the class has read and understood the story, they 
might analyze it: — 1. On the way to school. 2. Arrival 
at school. 3. The teacher's announcement. 4. The lessons. 
5. The close of school. 

Cuore by Edouardo de Amicis is a story telling of an 
Jtalian boy's experience at school. 

Football at Rugby, by Thomas Hughes (31) 

The selection tells of a boy's first day at school, of the 
football game which he saw, and of the brave part that he 
played in it. The game is between the ' schoolhouse ' with 
its few boys and the ' school ' composed of all the other 



16 THE TEACHING OF READING 

houses, but the schoolhouse wins because every boy does 
his best, and Tom Brown catches some of this spirit. 

Rugby is a famous school and football is a famous game ; 
so there are many things in this selection to talk about. 
The best account of Rugby is to be found in Tom Brown' 's 
School Days (Macmillan's Pocket Classics). "Arthur's First 
Day " is especially suitable for reading in class, and indicates 
Dr. Arnold's great work there as master. The teacher will 
recall both the tribute paid to him in Tom Brown at Oxford 
and that by his son Matthew Arnold in " Rugby Chapel." 

As for football, the boys will be able to see the difference 
between the game then and now. It will interest them to 
know that the modern American college game is a develop- 
ment from this old game at Rugby. The method of kicking 
the goal is still the same, but many other details have 
changed. As this is a long selection, some care should be 
taken that pupils see the order of events. It is divided in 
two parts, but may be treated as a single lesson if the teacher 
prefers. 

Thomas Hughes (1822-1896) was himself a schoolboy at 
Rugby, and both as a writer and a social reformer carried on 
the lessons he learnt there from Dr. Arnold. 

II. HEROISM AND ADVENTURE 

The selections in this group deal with some of the most 
stirring chapters in the world story of adventure. It will 
be noticed that the second, third, and fourth selections have 
to do with Robin Hood ; the next three with stories of 
America. The selections from Robinson Crusoe and Swiss 
Family Robinson go together ; and the stories of Arnold 



FIFTH READER 17 

Winkelried and William Tell form a final group. Each of 

these small groups should be read together ; but any one of 

them might be postponed if this suits the teacher's special 

plans. 

Hunting Song, by Walter Scott (40) 

There are several ways in which this song may be given its 
full significance. First, it offers an excellent exercise in 
reading aloud. It should be read with spirit and with em- 
phasis on the accents and rhymes of the verse. No harm is 
done if the children overemphasize these metrical aspects. 
Second, it offers an introduction to the stories of adventure 
and heroism which are to follow, and was written by the 
prince of all romancers. The last stanza indeed expresses 
the creed of all light-hearted adventure, Carpe diem, or, 
make the most of time which is flying. This is the moral of 
much recent literature which enforces joyful and cheerful 
living, as the writings of David Grayson and others. Third, 
the poem is directly related to the stories of Robin Hood 
and the greenwood which follow. It must be recognized, 
however, that the hunting scene described is outside of the 
experience of American children. What they may know 
about hunting has little to do with hawks, or stags, or foresters, 
or ladies gay. The scene belongs to past times and indeed 
to the world of romance. But the poem reanimates this 
world for us. 

An account of Walter Scott will be found on p. 61 in con- 
nection with the selection from Ivanhoe. 

Robin Hood Rescues the Woman's Three Sons (43) 

The ballad is a form of poetry admirably suited to children, 
but unfortunately the subject matter of many of the old 



1 8 THE TEACHING OF READING 

popular ballads needs a good deal of explanation for the 
children of to-day. Nothing could be better reading, how- 
ever, for boys and girls than this ballad of Robin Hood. 
The following suggestions indicate the way one teacher 
introduced the ballad to her class. 

1. She asked the class what they knew about Robin 
Hood. Some said they had never heard of him. Others 
had read the selections in the Reader. Several had heard 
various stories of his life in the forest. As a result of this 
talk, all came to know that he was the head of a band of 
outlaws living in the woods many years ago, hated by the 
rich Normans whom they robbed, and loved by the poor 
Saxons whom they protected. 

2. What sort of stories did the poor people who loved 
Robin Hood tell about him ? These poor people could not 
read or write. How were their stories preserved ? Some 
clever person put the story into rhyme, and sang it. Others 
repeated it by song or recitation, and perhaps added a little 
to it. The people liked to gather together and hear the 
brave deeds of their hero celebrated. Parents sang those 
stories to children, and the children remembered them and 
sang them to their children. The poems about Robin 
Hood were thus kept alive for hundreds of years before they 
were ever printed. Many other stories were sung by the 
people and handed down from generation to generation ; 
but of all these ballads, the best known are those of Robin 
Hood. 

3. Now let us read the ballad. Imagine you are reciting 
to the people the story of their hero. 

The following old ballads will interest boys and girls : 
" Robin Hood's Death and Burial," "The Gay Gos-hawk," 



FIFTH READER 19 

"The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington," "King John and the 
Abbot of Canterbury." They may be found in Gummere's 
Old Ballads (Ginn) or the one volume selections from Child's 
Ballads (Houghton). 

Robin Hood and Little John, by Thomas Bulfinch (50) 
This selection records another adventure of Robin Hood 

in a modern version. Bulfinch's Legends of King Arthur 

is also published as the Age of Chivalry. 

The Archery Contest, by Sir Walter Scott (54) 
This is another adventure of Robin Hood told by a great 
master of fiction. The lesson may be made the occasion 
of telling the class something about Ivanhoe. It will be 
perhaps some years before they will read this great novel 
with enjoyment, but they might learn something of its 
scenes and persons, of the England of Saxon and Norman, of 
the knights, tournaments, and castles of the age of chivalry, 
and of Richard I, the Lion-hearted, the hero of many battles 
and many a story. The Fifth Reader affords an oppor- 
tunity to call the attention of the class to several of the best 
English novels which the boys and girls should look forward 
to reading : Ivanhoe, Robinson Crusoe, the Vicar of Wake- 
field, and John Halifax. Maurice Hewlett's Richard Yea 
and Nay is a modern novel dealing with Richard I. 

This selection lends itself readily to dramatization. The 
class could aid in arranging the action and in adding to the 
dialogue. 

The account of Scott given in the Reader may also be 
supplemented with other incidents of his most interesting 
life. Whatever the class now learns about him should be 



20 THE TEACHING OF READING 

occasionally recalled and made the basis of further informa- 
tion as other selections from his writing are read. The 
standard biography of Scott is by his son-in-law Lockhart, 
and is one of the great biographies of the language. A good 
short life is by R. H. Hutton in the " English Men of Letters 
Series." S. R. Crockett's Red Cap Tales from Scott's novels 
are excellent for younger readers. 

Topics for Oral and Written Composition. Robin Hood. 
England in Robin Hood's Time. Richard, the Lion-hearted. 
Robin Hood's Companions. How Ballads Were Made. 

The Wreck of the Hesperus, by Longfellow (64) 
This selection and the two following have their location in 
America, and are quite different in character from the pre- 
ceding adventures in Sherwood forest. The ." Wreck of the 
Hesperus " is written in ballad stanzas and is an admirable 
imitation of the old ballads, of which we had an example in 
" Robin Hood Rescues the Widow's Three Sons." Like 
them, it is marked by the directness and dramatic quality 
of the narrative. The narrative is broken at different times 
by three speakers, the old sailor, the captain, and the 
daughter. The reading by the class should be as spiritec 
as possible ; perhaps after a first reading, the general narra 
tive might be assigned to one reader, the lines of the speaker? 
to three pupils, and the poem read dramatically. 

What do your children know of the sea and of ships ? 
Do they understand what a schooner is ? What it is to 
weather a storm ? Why the captain steered for the open sea ? 
An account of Longfellow is given in the Fourth Reader. 
The standard biography is the Life by Samuel Longfellow. 
There is a good short life by Colonel Higginson in the 



FIFTH READER 21 

American Men of Letters series, and an interesting paper in 
Howells' My Literary Friends and Acquaintances. 

The Pine Tree Shillings, by Nathaniel Hawthorne (69) 
Following the tragic story of the Hesperus, we have a 
humorous account of Colonial days. This selection should 
be read rapidly in the class, and scarcely requires intensive 
treatment. There are enough references in the selection to 
dress, food, and manners of the New England colonists 
to suggest further discussion. Hawthorne's Grandfather 9 s 
Chair, from which this and the following selection are taken, 
is the best account of Colonial days for children. The teacher 
should know his Twice-Told Tales and Scarlet Letter. The 
teacher will be interested in Alice Morse's Child Life in 
Colonial Days, and her Home Life in Colonial Days (The 
Macmillan Standard Library). 

The Sunken Treasure, by Nathaniel Hawthorne (77) 

This selection deals with one of the great themes of ad- 

^venture, the search for treasure. It tells a true story that 

^touches on two great historical epochs of adventure and 

%eroism. First, there is the epoch of the Spanish conquest 

of America, and of the great stores of gold and silver borne 

r ^)ack to Spain by the loaded galleons. Second, there is the 

epoch of the English colonies in America, of daring seamen 

and traders who pushed their little vessels into every port 

of the western seas. The story of the Spanish conquest 

includes the many voyages of discovery by Columbus, 

Balboa, and others, the conquest of Mexico by Cortez, and 

of Peru by Pizarro. The class should know something about 

some of these. The teacher may tell, too, of Spanish America 



i 



22 THE TEACHING OF READING 

at its time of glory, and of the great stores of precious 
metals and spices collected and shipped back to Spain ; of 
the busy traffic on the Isthmus of Panama, and how the gold 
and silver of South America were brought to Panama, the 
oldest settlement by Europeans on the mainland of America, 
and then sent across the Isthmus to the Atlantic. Soon 
there arose the great struggle between England and Spain 
that culminated with the destruction of the Spanish Armada. 
Chief among the Englishmen who robbed the Spanish 
settlements and treasure ships were Sir Francis Drake and 
Sir John Hawkins, hero of the famous sea fight sung by 
Tennyson in the "Revenge." Panama itself was unsuccess- 
fully attacked by Drake ; and later, when Phipps was a 
young man of twenty, was sacked and destroyed by the 
pirate Morgan. 

Far different, but scarcely less adventurous, was the early 
history of the English colonies in America. The lives of Sir 
Walter Raleigh, Captain John Smith, and many others had 
the same qualities of persistence, courage, and enterprise 
that we find in the career of Sir William Phipps. 

The amount of historic material is so great that there is a 
danger of trying to bring too much of it before the class. In 
a case of this sort, it is a good plan first, to discover how 
much or how little the children already know of the historic 
background ; second, to make clear a very simple outline, 
as here, e.g., (i) the Spanish discovery and settlement, 
(2) the Spanish treasure ships, (3) the New England colonies ; 
third, to recall or retell one or two stories connected with 
that of the selection, e.g., of Cortez, of Captain John Smith, 
of Sir Francis Drake. 

At any rate, care should be taken that the children under- 



FIFTH READER 23 

stand some of the difficulties that beset the sailors of those 
times — the smallness of the ships, the danger of storm, 
fever, and mutiny. The moral is evident, the value of 
courage and persistency. 

Topics for Oral or Written Composition. The Early Life of 
Phipps. His Unsuccessful Attempts to Find Treasure. 
Finding the Treasure. Where the Treasure Came From. 

The best-known story of a hunt for treasure is Stevenson's 
Treasure Island. The class will enjoy Frank Stockton's 
Stories of the Spanish Main (Macmillan). 

The Day after the Shipwreck, by Defoe (89) 
Though this selection from Robinson Crusoe, and those 
which follow, take us from New England, we still have to do 
with adventures by sea. Robinson Crusoe is a book that 
every child should read, but it may be a question whether 
it should be read by pupils of this class or later. Another 
selection is given in the Sixth Reader, with an accom- 
panying description of the island of Juan de Fernandez 
from Dana's Two Years before the Mast. Something of the 
story can be told to the class at this time, or some other 
selections read to them. 

One great attraction of Robinson Crusoe is the abundance 
of precise details. Take any paragraph in this selection and 
note the number of incidents, objects, or details of some sort 
that are enumerated. The selection is particularly suited to 
testing of the children's ability to remember the contents of 
their reading. 

Daniel Defoe (1661-1731) was a most voluminous writer 
of novels, essays, pamphlets, and poems, but his fame may 
well rest on Robinson Crusoe. There is a good account of his 



24 THE TEACHING OF READING 

extraordinary life by W. Minto in the English Men of Let- 
ters series; another by W. P. Trent (Bobbs, Merrill). 

A Shipwrecked Family, by Johann David Wyss (96) 
The Swiss Family Robinson is the best known of the many 
stories written in imitation of Robinson Crusoe. It was 
written in 1813 by Johann Wyss, a Swiss professor. 

Arnold of Winkelried, by James Montgomery (103) 
This poem by a Scottish poet (1776-1854) records a stirring 
piece of valor which makes a fitting companion for the follow- 
ing story of William Tell. 

William Tell, by Sheridan Knowles (107) 
Like Robin Hood and Robinson Crusoe, William. Tell is 
one of the great heroes of story, but his fame rests almost on a 
single incident, that here recorded in the play by Sheridan 
Knowles. He is also the subject of the more famous German 
play, Wilhelm Tell, by Schiller. 

In dramatic pieces, it is well to read the selection first to 
make sure of the meaning and pronunciation, and then to 
arrange for a somewhat formal dramatic rendering. Let the 
pupils who have been assigned parts take their places on the 
platform or in the front of the room, and encourage both 
clear enunciation and spirited expression. 

The extent to which drama may be introduced into the 
reading class must be left to the teacher's judgment. " Robin 
Hood and the Widow's Three Sons" and the "Archery Con- 
test" from Ivanhoe could readily be arranged for dramatic 
recitation. Undoubtedly occasional dramatic renderings 
help to give interest and vigor to the reading lesson. 



FIFTH READER 25 

Topics for discussion in the class are (1) Switzerland, and 
(2) other brave deeds for country and liberty. 

III. BATTLE AND BRAVERY 

War is one of the great themes of literature as it has been 
one of the great occupations of mankind. These selections 
celebrate bravery and the many other heroic virtues that 
arise in charge or siege. Taken together the four selections 
afford a variegated picture of both the horrors and virtues 
of battle ; and the last selection, the " Battle of Blenheim," 
offers a searching comment on the wastefulness and useless- 
ness of war which cannot fail to reach the imagination of 
the pupil. If the teacher prefers, however, these selections 
can be distributed through the book. 

Hohenlinden, by Thomas Campbell (119) 

A poem that is justly famous because of the vividness of 
its description of the battle. The poem is an excellent one 
for reading aloud. Note that at the end of the first and 
second lines of each stanza, there is a pause in sense as well as 
meter. In the third line, however, the sense runs on into the 
fourth. Only a slight pause is needed at the end of the third 
line of each stanza. 

Some of the best-known short poems by Thomas Campbell 
(1777-1844) are "The Soldier's Dream," "Ye Mariners of 
England," and " Lord Ullin's Daughter." " Gertrude of 
Wyoming," one of his longer poems, deals with incidents in 
our Revolutionary War. 



26 THE TEACHING OF READING 

The Charge of the Light Brigade, by Tennyson (122) 

The class should be made to read this poem with as much 
expression as possible. It is too much to expect them to 
render adequately Tennyson's magnificent lines, but it will 
interest and help them to perceive that the first two lines 
imitate the galloping of the horses, that the lines at the begin- 
ning of the second and third stanzas suggest the thunder of 
the guns, and that the rapid short lines throughout harmo- 
nize with the rapid movement of the charge. It was in the 
Crimean War that Florence Nightingale served as nurse to 
the wounded soldiers. 

An account of Tennyson's life is given in the Sixth 
Reader. 

The Siege of Leyden, by JohnLothrop Motley (125) 

The introductory note in the Reader states the historic 
circumstances of the siege, but the opportunity may be taken 
for a class talk on picturesque Holland, and on its great 
achievements in commerce and art as well as in war. 

This selection offers a little difficulty in the pronunciation 
of the foreign proper names. It must be confessed that 
there is a good deal of inconsistency in our pronunciation of 
foreign words. For example, we pronounce Leyden (Li'- 
den) as the Dutch do, but we anglicize the Hague (Hag) 
instead of following the Dutch sound of Ha<2g. The teacher 
should consult the Glossary and guide the class in the correct 
pronunciation ; but it is still more important that the pupils 
speak the proper names clearly and boldly. Two good 
books on Holland for children are Hans Brinker and The 
Land of Pluck by Mary Mapes Dodge. 



FIFTH READER 27 

Motley (1 814-1877) was a diplomatist and a historian. 
His works all deal with the great struggle of Holland for 
independence. The teacher will find his Rise of the Dutch 
Republic a most fascinating book. 

The Battle of Blenheim, by Robert Southey (135) 

The glories of bravery and sacrifice are the usual themes 
of poetry about war, but in this poem Southey sets forth the 
horror and waste and uselessness in a way that every one 
can appreciate. The lesson of the poem is unmistakable to 
children as well as adults. 

Historians have found as much difficulty as did old Kaspar 
in discovering what good the battle accomplished for the 
people of the nations at war. The victorious Duke of Marl- 
borough, however, profited largely, for the great Blenheim 
palace was built in England for him at the national expense. 
Joseph Addison also profited, for it was his poem, the " Cam- 
paign," celebrating Marlborough's victory, which won him 
fame and patronage. Thackeray makes much of this inci- 
dent in his lecture on Addison in the English Humourists, 
as well as in Henry Esmond, where the Duke of Marlborough 
also appears. The Churchill family has had many distin- 
guished Englishmen since Marlborough's day, including the 
late Lord Randolph Churchill and his son Winston Churchill. 

Robert Southey (1774-1843), friend of Wordsworth and 
Coleridge, is often spoken of with them as forming the Lake 
School of poets. He lived for many years at Greta Hall, 
near Keswick, in the beautiful lake region of northern 
England. His works both in prose and verse are numerous. 
Other of his poems suited to young readers are, the " Inch- 
cape Rock," the " Legend of Bishop Hatto," and the " Cat- 



28 THE TEACHING OF READING 

aract of Lodore." Of his prose works, the most popular 
are his biographies of Wesley and Nelson. 

IV. GREAT MEN AND WOMEN 

Many of the earlier selections in the book have had to do 
with men of heroic qualities. In this group, however, 
attention is centered more directly on the moral virtues that 
make for heroism and greatness. In the cases of Generals 
Grant and Lee, the selections tell of their personal traits 
without emphasis on their public services in order to make 
these two great Americans more real and familiar to the 
pupils. In the accounts of Croesus and Abou Ben Adhem 
stress is placed directly on questions of conduct. Finally, in 
the wonderful story of Joan of Arc, we have human virtue 
in its most splendid and extraordinary form. 

The Boyhood of General Grant, by Ulysses S. Grant (139) 

Note with what modesty and simplicity General Grant 
writes of his boyhood. And note too how typical his boy- 
hood was of that of many boys in this country. What does 
the class know about General Grant ? of his career as a 
general ? as president ? of his trip around the world when he 
was received everywhere with the greatest honors ? of his 
loss of fortune and his final heroic race against death in 
order to complete his "Memoirs" and thus provide money 
for his family ? The famous scene at Appomattox when he 
met General Lee to arrange for the surrender of the Southern 
armies is perhaps the best illustration of Grant's modesty 
and generosity. But in all that he did we find an admirable 
honesty and simplicity of character. A good life of Grant 



FIFTH READER 29 

for boys and girls is Ulysses S. Grant, by Lowell Coombs 
(The Macmillan Company). 

Topics for Oral and Written Composition. General Grant's 
Boyhood. How It Differs From Mine. His Schooldays. 
General Grant at Appomattox. A Brief Account of His 
Life. What Did General Grant Do for His Country ? 

General Lee and Traveler, by Captain Robert Lee (146) 

Few men have commanded such universal admiration 
from their associates as did General Lee. Everyone who 
knew him felt that it would be impossible for him to do 
anything mean, cowardly, or dishonest. Of splendid pres- 
ence, finely educated, from one of our most distinguished 
families, Lee was a true gentleman as well as a great general. 
Now, many years after the war between the states, North- 
erner and Southerner join in their admiration of Lee's 
great qualities and claim him as one of the finest types 
of American. 

General Lee was not the kind of man to whom stories 
and anecdotes attach themselves. But his horse Traveler 
was almost as well known as his master, and has won a place 
with him in history. For an account of the personal side, of 
Lee's career, the best book is his son's Recollections and 
Letters of General Lee (Doubleday, Page and Co.). An excel- 
lent short biography for younger readers is the Life of 
Robert E. Lee, by Bradley Gilman (The Macmillan Com- 
pany). 

The War may be the subject for discussion in the class 
in connection with this and the preceding selection. 

Topics for Oral and Written Composition. General Lee's 
Boyhood. Why Does the South Honor Lee ? Why Does 
the North Honor Lee ? Some Other Great Americans, 



30 THE TEACHING OF READING 

The Happiest Man, from Herodotus (150) 
The story, here retold from Herodotus, takes us farther 
back into the past than any of the preceding selections. At 
the very dawn of history we find a man counting himself 
happy because he has great wealth ; and we have also the 
wisdom which warns us against pride. It is perhaps too 
much to expect the children to get the historical perspective, 
but they should be able to seize the moral. 

Abou Ben Adhem, by Leigh Hunt (155) 

The poem is a parable. In a parable there is a story and 
a moral application of the story. The name of the hero 
suggests that he is not a Christian, and hence he is not 
among those at first recorded by the angel. But love for 
his fellow-men wins for him the love of God. This is a good 
poem to commit to memory. 

On the monument to Leigh Hunt (1 784-1 859) in Kensal 
Green cemetery is the inscription " Write me as one that 
loves his fellow-men." Note that the theme of the poem 
recurs again in the two Christmas stories (p. 269) and 
in the " King of the Golden River " (p. 320). 

The Noble Nature, by Ben Jonson (156) 
This beautiful stanza by Shakespeare's friend and fellow 
poet is suitable for memorizing. Its connection with the 
other selections in this group is obvious. 

Joan of Arc, by Andrew Lang (157) 
The pages of the Fifth Reader open on many of the 
great vistas of history — England under the Normans, the 
Swiss struggle for independence, the discovery, settlement, 



FIFTH READER 31 

growth, and development of America. But there is no story 
in history more wonderful than that of the Maid of France, 
and no person in history more worthy of our admiration. 
Nor is there any story which better deserves a place in the 
imaginations of boys and girls. The main qualification for 
the teacher is that she too should feel the wonder of the 
story and the sincere faith, the purity of character, the simple 
patriotism, and the inspired bravery of the peasant girl. 

Some notion of the France of Joan can be given to the 
class by means of photographs of the great cathedrals — 
Rheims, Rouen, Notre Dame, Chartres. They were already 
venerable by Joan's time, but they may suggest the way in 
which the Church dominated the life of everybody from 
peasant to King. And these magnificent churches — like 
Joan's deeds — are witnesses of the power of religious faith. 

Though Joan was condemned as a heretic and witch, this 
sentence was revoked by the Pope twenty-five years after her 
death. In 1908 she was canonized as a saint of the Roman 
Catholic Church. 

The selection is abridged from Andrew Lang's Red True 
Story Book. His Maid of France (1908) is one of the best 
histories of her life, concerning which he was an authority. 
The Maid has inspired many writers with enthusiastic 
admiration ; Schiller's Die Jungfrau von Orleans, Southey's 
Joan of Arc, and Mark Twain's Personal Recollections of Joan 
of Arc. See also the account by Charles Dickens in his 
Child's History of England. There have been many paint- 
ings and statues of Joan, and recently a statue has been 
placed on Riverside Drive, New York. 

For comments on the pronunciation of foreign names, see 
the Note on the " Siege of Leyden." The names here offer 
little difficulty. 



32 THE TEACHING OF READING 

V. ANIMALS 

How much do the boys and girls in your class have to do 
with domestic animals ? What pets do they have ? What 
do they know about cats ? dogs ? horses ? The first oppor- 
tunity that a boy has to choose between cruelty and kind- 
ness is often in his treatment of his dumb friends. The 
first two of these selections tell of heroic dogs ; the last two 
tell stories of horses. 

Among the books about animals that can be recommended 
for boys and girls from nine to twelve, are Dr. John Brown's 
Rab and His Friends, Jackson's Cat Stories and Letters from 
a Cat, Kipling's Jungle Books, Miller's First Book of Birds, 
Seton's Biography of a Grizzly, Sewell's Black Beauty, and 
the St. Nicholas Animal Stories. 

The Bell of Atri, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (172) 

This is the longest story in verse that we have had. 
Several still longer are to follow. The pupils should read 
the poem through by themselves before reading it aloud. 
It may be well to ask for brief accounts of the story, and to 
make sure that the class has grasped its essentials before 
reading in the class. It will also be necessary to assure the 
class as to the pronunciation of the Italian names. Note 
that the poem is divided into paragraphs. The poem should 
be read aloud by paragraphs. 

This poem and " Paul Revere's Ride " (Reader, p. 201) 
appear in Longfellow's Tales of a Wayside Inn. Another 
poem in the same collection that the class should read is the 
" Birds of Killingworth." 

In the Helps to Study, the first group of questions deals 



FIFTH READER 33 

with the content of the poem. The second group with par- 
ticular images and expressions. These may be discussed 
after the poem has been read aloud. The description at 
the opening may be compared with a picture of some Italian 
hill town. The briony vine reminds the poet of garlands 
hung in fulfillment of a vow before a wayside shrine. The 
hunting and falcon of the Knight may recall Scott's " Hunt- 
ing Song " (p. 40). 

How Buck Saved His Master, by Jack London (178) 
Mr. Jack London's Call of the Wild has already won the 
right to be called a classic. It is a classic of a new land, 
Alaska. The Helps to Study in the Reader provide for the 
careful analysis of the story. Correlated topics are : 
Alaska, dogs. You could scarcely find more interesting 
topics for class discussion. 

How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix, by 
Robert Browning (184) 

This poem is without historic basis, the ride being wholly 
of Browning's invention. Note the number of details in 
each stanza, and how they unite into a vivid description, as 
that of the start in the first stanza, of the horse in the fifth 
stanza, of the last dash in the ninth stanza. Like the " Bell 
of Atri," the method of teaching may be (1) silent reading, 
(2) discussion of the content, (3) reading aloud, (4) discus- 
sion of the imagery in each stanza, (5) final rapid reading 
aloud. Note that the verse imitates the gallop of the horses, 
in stanzas 1, 2, and 9; and throughout suggests hurry and 
movement. The class should learn to read it aloud with 
rapidity and vigor. 



34 THE TEACHING OF READING 

Other famous rides are : " Paul Revere's Ride," by Long- 
fellow (p. 201); "Sheridan's Ride," by T. B. Read; the 
"Charge of the Light Brigade," by Tennyson (p. 122) ; the 
"History of John Gilpin," by Cowper; and the ride of 
Ichabod Crane in the " Legend of Sleepy Hollow," by Wash- 
ington Irving (Sixth Reader). 

Other famous horses are Bucephalus of Alexander the 
Great, General Lee's Traveler (p. 146), and Kentucky Belle, 
celebrated in the poem of that title by Miss Constance 
Woolson. Remind the class of Job's war horse, referred to 
in " Football at Rugby " — " He saith among the trum- 
pets, Ha, ha ; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thun- 
der of the captains, and the shouting." 

Some account of Robert Browning is given on p. 235. 

Rab, by Dr. John Brown (188) 

The best-known book about a dog is Dr. Brown's Rab 
and his Friends. What does the class make out of this 
description ? Can they draw a picture of Rab ? For a 
composition, they may describe a dog or tell a dog story. 
If any of them prefer, let them write descriptions or stories 
of cats. 

VI. HOME AND COUNTRY 

The poems in this group emphasize the close relations 
between love of home and love of country. The teaching 
of patriotism in the school should be connected with the 
teaching of loyalty and duty in the home, in school, and in 
all the everyday affairs of life. Several of the poems tell of 
famous events in the early history of our country, the " Land- 
ing of the Pilgrims," " Paul Revere's Ride," and " Marion's 



FIFTH READER 35 

Men." Others treat rather of sentiment; the " Old Oaken 
Bucket " of the affectionate remembrance of the home of 
childhood ; Scott's " Love of Country " of the feeling of 
patriotism ; and Collins's " How Sleep the Brave " of the 
honor and admiration paid to those who have given their 
lives to their country. 

Since this group is composed entirely of poems, an oppor- 
tunity is afforded for special attention to reading verse 
aloud. The poems are suited to patriotic anniversaries, as 
Flag Day, Memorial Day, Washington's Birthday, Lincoln's 
Birthday ; and may be used for those occasions instead of 
being taken together as they come in the Reader. 

Song of Marion's Men, by William Cullen Bryant (190) 

For reading aloud this poem offers no greater difficulties 
than several which have appeared earlier in the book. Its 
simple stanzas, its marked pauses at the end of the lines, 
and its lively movement are qualities also to be found in 
Scott's " Hunting Song," the " Wreck of the Hesperus," 
" Arnold of Winkelried," and " Hohenlinden." 

Our Revolutionary War has not been touched upon 
before in this book, and may well be made the subject of 
some talk in the class. 

The imagery of the poem is very simple. The greenwood 
is a forest, the cypress tree a tent. The wind is hollow- 
sounding as if it had come through a hollow cave ; again it 
moans and grieves, and again it is a steed with tossing mane. 

The standard biography of Bryant is by Parke Godwin, 
the life in the American Men of Letters series by John Bige- 
low, that in the English Men of Letters series by W. A. 
Bradley. 



36 THE TEACHING OF READING 

How Sleep the Brave, by William Collins (195) 

This beautiful poem may well be committed to memory 
by the class in connection with Memorial Day. It expresses 
our feelings toward both the Blue and the Gray. 

The images are too exquisite for dissection. But the 
class should picture the soldier's grave decked by Spring 
and surrounded by unseen mourners, chief among whom are 
Honor and Liberty. 

William Collins was an eighteenth-century poet of re- 
markable gifts. 

The Old Oaken Bucket, by Samuel Woodworth (196) 

The " Old Oaken Bucket " is not great poetry, but it 
touches sentiments well-nigh universal in our country, and 
hence has become a classic. It is also one of the few well- 
known poems which sings the praises of water rather than 
of the wine of the " blushing goblet." The class might 
draw pictures to illustrate this poem. 

Samuel Woodworth (178 5-1 842) wrote many patriotic 
songs, but this seems to be the only one likely to survive. 

Love of Country, by Sir Walter Scott (198) 
A selection to be committed to memory and recited. 

The Landing of the Pilgrims, by Mrs. Hemans (199) 

This poem is worth committing to memory. The vision of 
America as a land of liberty and religious freedom is one 
that the class should understand. Mrs. Hemans (1793- 
1835) is best known by this poem and " Casabianca." 



FIFTH READER 37 

Paul Revere's Ride, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (201) 

Few narrative poems are better suited to reading and 
appreciation by boys and girls than " Paul Revere's Ride." 
In story, historical setting, imagery, and versification it 
affords an admirable example of poetry for younger readers. 

The story is divided into two parts: (1) the signal light 
in the church tower, (2) the ride itself. Finally the last 
two stanzas tell of the ensuing battle and of the lasting 
meaning of this call to arms. 

The historical setting is assumed by the poet to be fa- 
miliar to his readers. It certainly should be familiar to all 
American children, but in many schools it will be necessary 
for the teacher to make sure that the class knows something 
about the occupation of Boston by the British troops, the 
state of preparation in the Massachusetts colony, the reasons 
for the expedition to Lexington and Concord, and the battle 
which marked the beginning of the Revolutionary War. 
The geographical details should also be traced out by the 
class on a map. 

The imagery of the poem especially deserves attention in 
two respects. First, note the setting given in the first 
part of the poem for the signal in the belfry. The quiet, 
moonlight scene and the shadowy loneliness make a con- 
trasting prelude for the lively ride which follows. The 
imagery of the churchyard, the phantom ship, the adjec- 
tives, spectral, gloomy, trembling, shadowy, somber, all help 
to heighten this effect. Second, note the way in which the 
purpose of the ride is given significance and grandeur by the 
imagery. It is not merely Paul Revere, but the fate of a 
nation that is riding. The spark from the horse's hoof is 



38 THE TEACHING OF READING 

the spark that is to kindle the land to war. This ride will 
never be forgotten, for its midnight message is that of defense 
of our country which our people will always be ready to 
waken and hear. 

The versification, with its stanzas of varying length, its 
irregular rhyming scheme, and its frequent use of three-syl- 
lable feet, lends itself to expressive reading. The class should 
note and express the difference between the hushed and 
expectant effect of the description of the signal and the 
vigorous movement of the lines that tell of the ride. 

Topics for Oral and Written Composition. A Brief Ac- 
count of the Ride. A Story of the Battles of Lexington 
and Concord. The Battle of Lexington Won by the 
Farmers. Why the Americans Were Fighting the British. 
The Story of Paul Revere's Ride as Told by the Man who 
Gave the Signal in the Belfry. Why We To-day Should 
Listen to Hear the Midnight Message of Paul Revere. 

VII. BOYS AND GIRLS 

These selections were written for boys and girls and 
about boys and girls. They should be able to appreciate 
the fun and joy, the mistakes and pathos, the hopes and 
ideals, and the tests and standards offered in these poems 
and stories. What are the reactions between this literature 
and your pupils ? Do they write and act plays, as did 
Tom Bailey ? Do they admire the nobility of John Halifax ? 
Do they feel a sense of responsibility in response to the love 
and expectations of their parents as these are expressed in 
" Little Brown Hands " and the " Children's Hour " ? 

In many of the selections in the Fifth Reader, it is the 



FIFTH READER 39 

part of the teacher to remove difficulties, make explanations, 
and lead the child to understand a past age, strange man- 
ners, or lofty ideals of conduct. In this group, the teacher 
may trust herself to the class. Encourage them to lead the 
way, to offer their own comments, to make the connections 
between the selections and their life. The teacher should 
follow after to correct and guide. 

Other selections in the Reader which also have to do 
with boys and girls are : the " Last Lesson," " Football 
at Rugby," " Boyhood of General Grant," and the two 
Christmas stories in the next group. 

The Theater in our Barn, by Thomas Bailey Aldrich (208) 

Aldrich's Story of a Bad Boy is based on the author's own 
boyhood, and really tells not of a bad boy but of a very 
normal boy. Another selection from it, the " Last Voyage 
of the Dolphin," is given in the Fourth Reader. Every 
boy should read the book. 

Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836-1907) was born in Ports- 
mouth, N. H., where his boyhood was spent and the inci- 
dents occurred that suggested the Story of a Bad Boy. He 
was the author of many poems and novels, and for nearly 
ten years the editor of the Atlantic Monthly. 

Topics for Oral Composition. Our Theater. My First 
Visit to the Theater. A Play That I Wrote. 

The Children's Hour, by Longfellow (222) 

The only difficulty in this poem is offered by the imagery. 
The children are the besieging army, the study is the castle, 
and the armchair the turret which they assail. Then the 



40 THE TEACHING OF READING 

figure is changed. The father holds fast the children and 
will hold them forever in the round tower of his heart. 

The Mouse-trap, a ruined castle on the Rhine, is still 
pointed out to travelers. The story goes that the bishop, 
in the time of famine, enticed the villagers into a barn, and 
then set fire to the barn and burned them all. In punish- 
ment, a plague of rats ate all the corn that he had stored in 
the castle, and finally ate the bishop himself. See the poem, 
the " Legend of Bishop Hatto," by Robert Southey. 

Moses Goes to the Fair, by Oliver Goldsmith (214) 
The Vicar of Wakefield, by Oliver Goldsmith, is one of the 
masterpieces of fiction that all of the class should read 
sometime. Some further selections from Chapter I, which 
tells of the family, and from Chapter III and IV, which 
tell of their life after the loss of fortune, might be read to 
the class to serve as an introduction for the adventure of 
Moses. 

An account of the life of Goldsmith (1728-1775) is 
given in the Reader. The standard biography is by John 
Forster ; the life by Washington Irving, the essay by 
Macaulay, and the life by Austin Dobson in the Great 
Writers series give good accounts of a most extraordinary 
life and character. Many of the stories about Goldsmith 
are such as a class would enjoy. 

The Pied Piper, by Robert Browning (222) 
Let the class draw pictures which could be used as illus- 
trations for the poem. Let them see if they can find any 
rhymes which Browning did not use for rats, Piper, guilders, 
wink, etc. Browning was fond of his ability to find a rhyme 



FIFTH READER 41 

for anything. So here, he brings in Julius Caesar to rhyme 
with the river Weser, and then alludes to Caesar's escape 
by swimming the river and carrying his Commentaries safe. 

After the class has read the poem with pleasure, and after 
the difficult words have been looked up, attention may be 
called to the difference in sound of the passages which de- 
scribe the rush of the rats and that of the children, and the 
difference betwen the visions of the happy lands that the 
Piper excited in the rats and the children. For another 
story of a wonderful magician, see that of Orpheus (the 
"Golden Fleece," pp. 315-317)- For another story about 
rats, see Robert Southey's " Legend of Bishop Hatto " al- 
ready referred to on p. 40 of the Manual. 

One further suggestion may be made in regard to the 
long narrative poems in the Reader. Not all of them should 
be made the subjects of intensive study. Some ought to be 
read mainly for pleasure, without too much drill. One of 
those is the " Pied Piper." 

Ingratitude, by William Shakespeare (237) 
This song from Shakespeare's "As You Like It" points the 
same moral as the "Pied Piper" and is inserted as a sort of 
complement to that poem. 

John Halifax, Gentleman, by Mrs. Mulock Craik (238) 
After a word or two of introduction by the teacher in 
assigning this lesson, the pupils should be able to read this 
story and, with the aid of the Glossary, understand all the 
words and phrases. In the class it should be read aloud as 
a continuous narrative without any unnecessary interrup- 
tion. But the pupils should be able to read it aloud rapidly 



42 THE TEACHING OF READING 

and intelligently. Then the text may be analyzed and dis- 
cussed ; any passages that cause difficulty may be read aloud. 

The story, however, will bear careful analysis and may 
be retold in the form of oral compositions: — I. The meet- 
ing in the rain. 2. John Halifax finds employment. 3. The 
Mayor's house across the street. 4. What John Halifax 
told of his history. 5. How John Halifax and Phineas be- 
came friends. 

John Halifax, Gentleman is the best-known work of Dinah 
Mulock Craik (1826-1887), an English novelist and poet, 
who also wrote many books for children. 

Tom and Maggie, by George Eliot (251) 

This selection offers a continuous narrative which may 
receive about the same treatment for class work as the pre- 
ceding selection. The story of Maggie Tulliver, however, 
wins the interest of boys and girls for two rather different 
reasons. First, it impresses them by its truthfulness. The 
emotional struggle in both Tom and Maggie seems like a 
record out of our own experience. Every word or thought 
can be corroborated by anyone who is either an older brother 
or a younger sister. Second, George Eliot presents child- 
hood not only with truth but also with poetry. The experi- 
ences and especially the affections of childhood are treated 
as something memorable, dear, and beautiful. That children 
feel something of this in the story is proved by the fact that 
the impressions made by their first reading of the book are 
so deep and abiding. It is in section III of our selection 
that this poetical treatment is most apparent. 

The tired teacher, who contends daily with the realities 
of childhood, may not always respond to the appeal of its 



FIFTH READER 43 

poetry. Wearied of her routine, she may feel that beauty 
for her lies in something less familiar, less well remembered. 
But really there is no one so responsive to the poetry of child- 
hood as this same tired and overworked teacher. As you 
go into your school to-day, let your mind run back to the 
first class that you taught. How clearly the faces of those 
children stand out in memory ; how vividly they have lived 
ever since in your imagination ! 

The voices of the classroom carry a language laden with 
all the associations of the years of teaching — years that are 
not dead but living. They live now less in their routine 
or drudgery than in the recollections of their service and 
their pleasure. And these new voices, reading the old 
lessons, stumbling, mispronouncing, or trembling and thrill- 
ing — as so many have done before them — will perhaps con- 
tribute their mite to that great volume of the poetry of 
childhood which lies ever open before the teacher. 

Little Brown Hands, by M. H. Krout (267) 

Why is this poem a classic ? Because it expresses so 
simply and clearly the very charm of childhood — its inno- 
cent play and its promise for the future. How much of 
both the pleasure and the hope one feels in the children one 
loves are expressed in these four stanzas. 

VIII. TWO CHRISTMASES 

This Reader is for boys and girls who are old enough to 
be getting beyond the fairy-tale age of Santa Claus, and 
just old enough to appreciate the true Christmas spirit. 
It is the spirit not of getting but of giving, not of greed 



44 THE TEACHING OF READING 

but of charity that these stories teach ; and that spirit 
may well be taught on any day of the year. 

One of the selections should certainly be read just before 
Christmas. The other could be reserved until later in the 
school year and read in connection with the children's 
stories of the last group. Or, both might be read together 
in December. They would help to make a better Christmas 
in many a home. 

For other selections, see the Book of Christmas (Mac- 
millan), and Dickens's Christmas Stories, especially the 
" Christmas Carol " and the " Chimes," and W. D. Howells' 
charming story, " Christmas Day." 

The Cratchits' Christmas Dinner, by Dickens (269) 

The "Christmas Carol" of Charles Dickens has been read 
in thousands of homes now these many Christmases. And 
from year to year and from home to home it has renewed its 
message of kindness and charity. The portion included in the 
Reader tells of the simple pleasures of the family Christmas 
dinner. But the pleasure of feasting is mingled with the un- 
selfish joy taken by every member of the family in contribut- 
ing to and sharing in the pleasure of the others. The goose 
and the pudding taste the better because every one is happy. 

Tell the class something more of the story of the " Christ- 
mas Carol " and of old Scrooge's conversion. 

The Sabot of Little Wolff, by Francois Coppee (278) 

This is the story of a miracle wrought by the Christ child. 

Many worshipers in Catholic countries crowd to his 

shrines, hoping that miracles will be wrought to cure the 

sick and suffering. And who will not believe that such 



FIFTH READER 45 

charit}* and sweetness as that of Little Wolff will have its 
reward ? 

Francois Coppee (1842-1908) won distinction as poet, 
dramatist, and writer of prose. He was one of the most 
active of French men of letters during the later part of the 
nineteenth century. 

IX. WONDER AND ENCHANTMENT 

Here are stories from two of the world's greatest sources 
of tales of wonder, the Greek mythology and the Arabian 
Nights, and from some of the world's creators of enchant- 
ment, Lowell, Ruskin, Tennyson, Goethe, and Shakespeare. 
The three poems included are short and readily understood. 
They might be read at almost any time in the course of the 
year's reading, though they are chosen as fitting the mood 
of magic and fairyland. Three of the prose selections are 
long and are divided into several lessons. They give an 
opportunity to train the class in the ability to read and 
analyze stories of some length and complexity. 

In teaching the stories of the old wonderland of litera- 
ture, it is perhaps well to remember that there is a new 
wonderland which has not yet been fully celebrated in 
poetry or romance, but which possesses the imagination of 
every child to-day. This wonderland of invention ought 
not to be overlooked in appeals to the interest of boys and 
girls. The phonograph is as marvelous as Echo ; the 
electric lamp outshines Aladdin's ; Jason would have ex- 
changed his golden fleece for an aeroplane ; and Prospero 
would have found his enchantments ineffectual in com- 
parison with those of a modern city street. What men have 



46 THE TEACHING OF READING 

dreamt and imagined of wonders and magic, men have 
finally surpassed by the miracles of their invention. 

If your pupils accept the wonders of story land with ease, 
there is no need of disturbing them by comparisons with 
modern magic. But for some of the girls and many of the 
boys, a new interest may be aroused in the imaginary won- 
ders of the past by suggesting how man's imagination has 
realized itself in the magical world in which we live. Some 
of the questions in the Reader make such comparisons. 
And the teacher need not fear that the magic of story land 
will lose its power if she shows in how many ways our won- 
der may be excited both by nature and by the works of 
man. 

The Bugle Song, by Alfred Tennyson (285) 

This matchless song may be read aloud by the teacher, 
in order to indicate to the class the way in which the verse 
imitates the notes of the bugle and their echoes. The poem 
should be committed to memory by the pupils, and it affords 
a good opportunity to train them in expressive reading. 
One may doubt, however, if it is worth while to use the 
poem as an elocutionary exercise. 

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp ; from the Arabian 

Nights (286) 
Several stories from the Arabian Nights are in the Fourth 
Reader and others may be known to the class. This selec- 
tion affords a good test of the pupil's ability to follow and 
remember a narrative with a complication of incidents. 
The opportunity may also be taken to suggest the wonders 
of modern magic. Franklin, Morse, Bell, Edison, and 



FIFTH READER 47 

Marconi are some of the modern Aladdins who have com- 
pelled the powerful genie, electricity, to do their bidding. 
Excellent lives of Franklin and Edison are included in the 
series of True Stories of Great Americans (Macmillan). 
Would not the children like to try illustrating this story 
with drawings of their own — the more fanciful the better ? 
Topics for Oral and Written Composition. The Story of 
Aladdin as Told by the Magician. As Told by the Lamp. 
How Franklin Summoned the Genie Electricity from the 
Sky. An Account of a Modern Aladdin, Thomas Edison. 
A Modern Jeweled Palace — a " Skyscraper " Lighted at 
Night. 

Aladdin, by James Russell Lowell (299) 

In this poem Aladdin's lamp is used as a symbol of the 
power of idealizing which enables its possessor to find joy 
in his dreams and hopes. When one has no more " Castles 
in Spain," there is not much satisfaction in castles of marble 
and gold. " Castles in Spain " is a phrase often employed 
to describe any day-dreams which have no real existence. 
Here, however, these "castles in Spain" are rather the ideals 
created by imagination and faith. 

Jason and the Golden Fleece, by Charles Kingsley (301) 

In introducing boys and girls to the wonderful stories of 
the Greek mythology, attention should be asked first for 
the stories themselves. This story of the Golden Fleece 
may be presented as a wonder tale like those of " Aladdin 
and His Lamp " and the " Pied Piper of Hamelin." In the 
Sixth Reader, where many Greek stories are included, atten- 
tion is also paid to the antiquity and literary history of these 



48 THE TEACHING OF READING 

stories ; and also to the nature of the imagination which 
devised them. The Greek imagination has much in it akin 
to that of children. It filled the world of nature with per- 
sonalities ; the sunlit streams in the woods became nymphs, 
the shadows were satyrs, and " the sun, and the night, and 
the blue-haired sea who shakes the land " were deities. 
The world which man knew about and could control was a 
very small world, like the child's. Outside of this was the 
great unknown, ruled by magic, spirits, or the greater gods. 
Some suggestion of the way the Greeks interpreted the world 
of nature may be conveyed to the class ; and with this 
should go a greater appreciation of their idea of heroism. 
Out from the little world that he knew about, man must 
bravely venture into the unknown world of magic and 
wonder. 

In this respect the voyage after the Golden Fleece be- 
comes typical of all human progress. Nothing daunted by 
the unknown and mysterious, the hero goes forth and brings 
back wealth or knowledge, or some other gift to humanity. 
The discoverers and inventors are the great Jasons who are 
ever overcoming the enchantments of the unknown. The 
class might be asked to compare Columbus with Jason, and 
to decide what golden fleece he brought back. Or compare 
Jason's contests with those of the scientists who found the 
cure for yellow fever. 

Charles Kingsley (1819-1875) should be known to the 
children by his Water Babies, and to the teacher by his 
novels, Alton Locke, Hypatia, and Westward Ho. 

Topics for Oral and Written Composition. The Voyage 
of the Argo. Some Other Famous Voyages on Unknown 
Seas. How Jason Met the Tests. Columbus Compared 



FIFTH READER 49 

with Jason. Do Men ever Conquer Enchantments To- 
day ? 

The King of the Golden River, by John Ruskin (319) 
This charming fairy story affords an excellent opportunity 
for serial reading. The first chapter of the story has been 
omitted and its contents condensed in an introductory note. 
Each of the four chapters, as they appear in the Reader, is 
distinct in itself and yet closely connected with the others. 
Each chapter may be taken for a single lesson, and an 
additional lesson given for rapid reading of the whole. 

In comparison with such tales of wonder as " Jason and 
the Golden Fleece " and " Aladdin and His Lamp," this 
story has two distinct qualities, the beauty of its descriptions 
of nature and the nobility of its teaching of unselfishness. 
Ruskin's wonderful power in picturing the play of light and 
mist and storm among the mountain peaks and torrents is 
fully exemplified in this selection, and the beauty and vivid- 
ness of such pictures should be appreciated by the class. 
But how many of your pupils ever saw a mountain ? or a 
glacier ? or good photographs of the Alps ? Men brought 
up on the prairie often prefer the wide horizons of their 
boyhood to any other natural scenes that they may later 
visit. Men brought up in the mountains rarely see much 
beauty in the prairies. What do the members of your class 
find most beautiful in nature — sunset, mountain glade, 
the lawn in the park, the prairie in spring, or what ? Per- 
haps Ruskin's descriptions can be used to encourage them 
to a free expression of their own feelings, and to a new interest 
in the pleasure that comes from observing beauty in its 
manifold forms. 



SO THE TEACHING OF READING 

The virtue of unselfishness has been taught in many of 
the stories in the Fifth Reader, but nowhere more persua- 
sively than here. As the kindness of Little Wolff is glorified 
by the Christ child, so the kindness of little Gluck moves 
mountains and wins the admiration of generations who tell 
his story. In some other stories enchantment and magic 
have come to the aid of bravery and daring, but here they 
serve unselfishness. 

A brief account of Ruskin's life is given in the Reader. 
Many interesting incidents of his childhood will be found in 
his own delightful Prceterita. 

The Erl-King, by Johann Wolfgang Goethe (346) 
Like some of the old ballads, this poem tells in dramatic 
form of death met through enchantment. In the other 
selections in this group magic has brought wealth, happiness, 
and rewards for virtues. Here Death is the mystery that 
rides through wonderland as well as through the real world. 
Goethe's verses, often sung to Schubert's music, have made 
the old legend one of the best-known poems. 

The Story of the Tempest, by Mary Lamb (3 50) 

The Tales from Shakespeare are not intended to take the 
place of the plays, but to serve as an introduction to them. 
There are some songs and some passages in Shakespeare 
which can be read by children at an early age ; but it is 
also desirable for them to make an early acquaintance with 
the persons and stories of some of the plays. In connection 
with this " Story of the Tempest," the fairy scenes from Mid- 
summer- Nigh? s Dream might be read in the class. (See 
Everyday English, Book I, p. 218, for a suitable version.) 



FIFTH READER 51 

In many schools scenes from the plays are acted, and even 
the younger children enjoy taking part. In the Sixth 
Reader, the casket scenes from the Merchant of Venice are 
arranged for school dramatics, and in the Teachers' Manual 
for that Reader, some observations are made on school per- 
formances of Shakespeare. It may be noted here that even 
the great historical plays like Julius Gcesar and Coriolanus 
may be acted by schoolboys. But in any play or scene to 
be acted, a considerable amount of cutting will be nec- 
essary. 

The " Story of the Tempest " contains two of Shakespeare's 
most lovely songs and often follows very closely the speeches 
of the leading characters. A full account of the play can be 
found in any good edition ; e.g. The Tudor Shakespeare. 

It would seem that Shakespeare must have thought of 
the close of his own career as he wrote of Prospero's retire- 
ment. Certainly no poem or play suggests more insistently 
the magical power of the imagination. No magic, even 
that of modern invention, seems more marvelous to us than 
the power which can create men and women and stories 
that generations of men love and believe. At the close of 
the Fifth Reader of stories, and of this group of tales of 
wonder, the pupil should have some feeling for the enchant- 
ments which have wrought this book. What power had 
Aladdin's genii of the lamp and the ring, or the witch 
maiden Medea, or Prospero himself compared with those 
magicians who make stories and poems that live forever ? 

Topics for Oral and Written Composition. The Story of 
Miranda. The Story of Ferdinand. An Afternoon with 
Ariel. The Story of Titania and Bottom. A Book that I 
Like. The Magic Land of Books. 



THE SIXTH READER 

The Sixth Reader is, like the Fifth Reader, a story 
book, but a book of world famous stories. It draws from 
the great myths of Greece and the Northland, and from the 
great narratives of the Bible, of Homer, of Virgil, of the 
chivalric romances, and of Shakespeare. It is a story book 
that glimpses the progress of civilization, and opens to its 
boy and girl readers long vistas into the world's history. 
In short, it is primarily a book of classics, of stories that 
have been famous among many peoples, and for long 
times, of classics with which every one must be familiar 
if he is to share in the accumulated wealth of the human 
mind. 

In the Manual to the Fifth Reader, emphasis was placed 
on the part of the teacher in helping the pupils to under- 
stand the stories and to read them understandingly. That 
is again the primary purpose of the teacher in using the 
Sixth Reader. But here the understanding of the stories 
involves an introduction to the great story lands of the 
past, to the gardens of the Hesperides, the lofty towers of 
Troy, the Egypt of the Pharaohs, the shining city of As- 
gard, and to King Arthur's court at Camelot. These places 
are all a long distance from Missouri or Minnesota of to-day, 
if we measure the distance in space or time. But they are 
not far removed if measured by the swiftness of a boy's 

52 



SIXTH READER 53 

imagination. How can the teacher help that imagination 
on its journey ? By going with it and by reassuring the 
younger traveler by telling of the millions who have al- 
ready made that journey with delight. 

The story of Hector, for example, is a good story. It is 
enjoyed among the mountains of Tennessee to-day as well 
as in the Athens of Pericles. First of all, the pupil should 
read it clearly and understand what it tells. But the story 
of Hector is a story that has been told to generation after 
generation. Its lessons and ideals have stirred men for 
many centuries. And in turn it has become the theme and 
inspiration for other stories and poems. Its persons and 
places and deeds have become symbols and bywords and 
proverbs. All literature since is full of it. Of almost every 
incident or expression, the teacher might say, " thereby 
hangs a tale." Paris, Helen, Achilles, Priam, Ajax, and 
the rest, — these are persons you will meet in every turn 
of your reading. 

By the sixth grade, the boy or girl begins to be interested 
not merely in the story but in its relations to the huge world 
about him. What he reads is not merely fairy-land or an- 
other world than ours ; he begins to ask, why was this writ- 
ten ? why do I read it ? what do other persons think about 
it ? In the Sixth Reader, more than in any of the pre- 
ceding, provision is made for answering just such queries. 
In this Manual the effort is made to provide suggestions of 
ways in which the teacher may enrich the class-room hour. 
During the journeys of the pupil's imagination, the teacher 
is the guide who has many things to point out through the 
open windows. 



54 THE TEACHING OF READING 

Variety of Selections 

The selections in the Reader are not all from the great 
narratives of the world's literature. American literature 
and history receive full attention, and the story of David 
Copperfield has been chosen not less for its interest to boys 
and girls than for its greatness as fiction. The selections 
in the group Our Country are in part from great orations, 
and give a chance for a style of expression by no means to 
be neglected in teaching reading. Another section, Poems 
Grave and Gay, supplies a group of poems offering notable 
variety in content and also in their requirements for read- 
ing aloud. Throughout the book especial opportunity is 
given (i) for reading consecutively, and (2) for reading 
dialogue. Certain selections are intended to test the pupils' 
ability not merely to read an incident of a page or two but 
to read a series of connected stories, and keep them in mind 
as a whole. The selections telling of Hercules and those 
of Troy are examples of this ; and at the close of the 
book, four closely connected episodes from David Copperfield 
are united in the form of a brief serial. One lesson may 
often be devoted to the reading aloud of one of these con- 
nected groups. Dialogue abounds in many of the stories and 
gives an opportunity for dramatic reading. The five scenes 
from the Merchant of Venice which relate the story of Portia 
make a little play by themselves. 

Order of the Selections 

The arrangement of selections in groups becomes some- 
what more important in this than in the preceding Readers. 
The groups dealing with the story of Troy, with David 



SIXTH READER 55 

Copperfield, with the Northern Myths, and with Portia's 
Suitors manifestly gain a great deal by being treated as 
units. On the other hand, such groups as Poems Grave 
and Gay, and Our Country, can be readily rearranged or 
separated as the teacher may desire. Many teachers will 
probably wish to change somewhat the order of the selec- 
tions in order to suit the particular needs and interests of 
their classes. 

In order to suggest how freely the order may be amended, 
the following alternative arrangement is offered. 

Hercules and the Golden Apples, I, II, III. 

The Psalm of Life. 

The Story of the Fisherman. 

To a Waterfowl. 

Joseph and his Brethren, I, II, III. 

The Twenty-Third Psalm. 

The Siege of Troy (all the selections in Group I, except the first). 

Northern Myths (Group II, entire), with the " Blind Men and 
the Elephant "). 

The Burial of Moses. 

The Age of Chivalry (Group IV, entire, except the " Knight and 
the Saracen "). 

Robinson Crusoe and his Man Friday. 

Robinson Crusoe's Island. 

The Gettysburg Speech (for Lincoln's birthday). 

The Recessional. 

The Ship of State. 

The Early Life of Washington. 

Jefferson on the Character of Washington (Washington's Birth- 
day). 

Belshazzar's Feast. 

Destruction of Sennacherib. 

The Deacon's Masterpiece. 

The Childhood of David Copperfield (entire). 



56 THE TEACHING OF READING 

The Concord Hymn. 

John Adams' Supposed Speech. 

The Knight and the Saracen. 

The Cloud. 

Portia's Suitors (entire). 

The Bells. 

Liberty and Union. 

Union and Liberty. 

Helps to Study 

The Helps to Study accompanying each selection in the 
Reader are addressed to the pupil. They usually consist 
of three parts with three different purposes, (i) The in- 
troductory matter supplying explanation and setting for 
the story is more extensive than in the preceding Readers. 
It often precedes instead of following the selection. In a 
number of cases the introductory matter has been made 
into special articles, as "What are the Greeks to Us?" 
(p. 34), and the " Age of Chivalry " (p. 180), which apply 
to entire groups of selections. (2) The questions to guide 
and test the pupil's study aim to insure his understanding 
of the selection, the connection of the selection with his 
reading and experience, and the detailed study of words 
and phrases. (3) Lists of difficult words and phrases are 
given after each selection. In case of most proper .names 
and of unusual obsolete or foreign words, the definition 
and pronunciation are given. The list of the Greek gods 
on pp. 46, 47 and the pronouncing lists will be found es- 
pecially helpful. Often, however, the pupil is referred to 
the Glossary. He should be constantly encouraged to use 
the dictionary freely ; and as a convenient substitute for 
the dictionary, there is the Glossary at the end of the book. 



SIXTH READER 57 

There the pronunciation and definition of each word is 
given. 

In the Manual for the Fifth Reader extended suggestions 
are offered for " Drill on Words and Phrases." These sug- 
gestions may be applied to the work with the Sixth Reader, 
and especially to the work early in the year. In Group I 
on Greece and Rome the teacher should make sure that the 
class can pronounce the names readily. As the class ad- 
vances, however, less drill may be required off words and 
phrases, and an increased amount of time spent in class 
discussion of the many interesting topics which the selec- 
tions afford. 

Literary Appreciation 

In this Sixth Reader there is a greater opportunity than 
in the earlier books to dwell on literary values and appre- 
ciation. The lives of the authors and matters of literary 
history receive more attention ; and there is abundant 
chance to use the book in connection with wider readings 
in the great fields of literature to which it opens gateways. 
But the service of an introduction to literature is more 
distinctly and explicitly performed by the Seventh and 
Eighth Books. Here the purpose is not so much to make 
the child feel that a given selection is literature by its quality 
as to make him understand that it is a part of what all men 
read. Emphasis has been laid in every Reader on the pur- 
pose of the Everyday Classics to afford the teacher a means 
of introducing the child to the heritage of the race. In 
the Sixth Reader it becomes possible for the child to un- 
derstand something of this purpose and to share consciously 
in the satisfaction of testing his feelings and sentiments by 



58 THE TEACHING OF READING 

those of his parents and other predecessors in the paths of 
culture. 

It is the persons and events, rather than the style, on 
which his attention should be focused. Hector, Moses, 
Siegfried, Sir Galahad, Columbus, Washington, Robinson 
Crusoe — these give the food for his imagination, and the 
means by which it may be brought in accord with the 
best of the world's mind. But now and again, this imag- 
ination should also be directed to a masterpiece of expres- 
sion, as expression. " The Twenty-Third Psalm," the 
" Concord Hymn," the " Gettysburg Speech," Shelley's 
" Cloud," — each of these in its own way is a thing of im- 
perishable beauty. And as such it should be offered to the 
child. A little dogmatism by the teacher will not hurt. 
Now and then there will be occasion to say, ' This is great 
literature, to be read reverently and lovingly.' Some dire 
judgment should certainly overtake any system which 
makes such masterpieces as these abhorred exercises. The 
teacher should come back year after year to these temples 
with the same admiration and wonder which she would 
transmit to her pupils. 

I. GREECE AND ROME 

In most schools to-day the pupils of the Sixth Grade 
have already had some introduction to the myths and 
legends of ancient Greece. How much do they remember 
at the beginning of the school year ? Do they know the 
names of some of the chief deities and their attributes ? 
Have they read the stories of Jason and the Golden Fleece ? 
(Fifth Reader, p. 301); of Perseus and Andromeda? of 
Ulysses ? Do they understand how the Greeks looked 



SIXTH READER 59 

upon the world of sky, earth, sea, and forest as peopled by 
many powerful spirits who intervened constantly in the 
affairs of men ? The teacher will do well to discover how 
much or how little impression the stories of Greece and 
Rome have already made on their minds. 

The imagination of the child is in many ways strikingly 
akin to the myth-making imagination of the Greeks. He 
delights in personifying nature and in devising adventures 
which are aided and magnified by the unknown powers of 
the air. We have all come to see that Greek literature has 
something to offer the child as well as the scholar. As 
fairy tales, as legends of valor and strength, or as myths 
translating the universe into story, the Greek heroes and 
deities make a very direct appeal to childhood. 

The first selection in this group, " Hercules and the Golden 
Apples," lends itself readily to this appeal. Like most of 
the other stories in Hawthorne's Wonder Book and Tangle- 
wood Tales or in Charles Kingsley's Greek Heroes, it is a 
story of adventure and wonder. It suits the myth-making 
age of childhood. 

The other selections have this interest as stories but they 
are chosen also to suggest another interest which Greek 
literature may have for older boys and girls. They are 
some of the most famous incidents from the poems of Homer 
and the JEneid of Virgil. They suggest the immense effect 
which Greek literature has had on the world and the great 
part which Greece has played in the advance of civilization. 
" The glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was 
Rome " are not ideas reserved merely for scholars and poets ; 
something of their meaning can be grasped by every school- 
boy. 



60 THE TEACHING OF READING 

Hercules and the Golden Apples, I, II, III (n) 

This section offers little difficulty and is suited to rapid 
reading. With its mixture of dialogue, direct narrative and 
brief description, it affords at the beginning of the year a 
good test of the pupils' ability to read aloud with distinct- 
ness and variety of expression. 

It gives comparatively little occasion for a detailed study 
of expression or allusions, but it does offer opportunity for 
wide and interesting comment on many matters suggested 
by the story. It may serve as a clew to recall what the 
pupils know of Greek myth and legend, or what other 
stories they have read of dragons or giants. The method 
of class presentation might follow some such arrangement 
as this : — 

i. Question the class as to what they know of Hercules 
and of Greece. Assignment of Part I for reading and 
study. The pupil to read the selection at his desk or at home, 
preparing himself by the aid of the Helps to Study. 

2. Reading aloud of Part I in the class, with careful 
attention to pronunciation, enunciation, and expression. 
Further talk in the class of other Greek stories. Assign- 
ment of Part II, to be read by pupils. 

3. Reading aloud of Part II. Answering and discussing 
the questions in the Helps to Study. Assignment of Part 
III to be read by the pupils, with notice that they are to 
review their knowledge of giants. 

4. Reading aloud of Part III. Who can tell brief stories 
of giants or dragons ? of David and Goliath ? of Siegfried 
and the dragon ? of Gulliver in the land of the Brobding- 
nags ? of Jack and the Beanstalk ? of Jack the Giant 



SIXTH READER 61 

Killer ? Assignment of the reading of Parts I, II, and III, 
so that pupils will be prepared to tell the whole story. 

5. Final reading aloud of the three Selections, rapidly ; 
or oral composition by pupils on some of the following 
topics : — How Hercules Looked. The Old Man of the 
Sea. The Giant Atlas. Another Adventure of Hercules. 
Who were some of the Greek Gods ? Another Greek 
Story (Jason, Perseus, Midas). The Life of Nathaniel 
Hawthorne (Fifth Reader, p. 75). 

An excellent book for supplementary reading is Mrs. 
Baker's Stories of Old Greece and Rome (Macmillan). 

What Are the Greeks to Us? (34) 

In the note entitled " What Are the Greeks to Us ? " 
an attempt has been made to give in a few words some 
notion of Greek civilization to boys and girls. This note 
furnishes a text which the teacher may amplify so far as 
time permits. 

Various suggestions are made in connection with the 
different selections. One general comment may be offered. 
Even a hasty glance at Greek literature should be accom- 
panied by some glimpses of Greek art. There are many 
good cheap photographic reproductions of Greek temples 
and sculptures. If the class is fortunate enough to have 
access to an art museum, the Greek vases will prove es- 
pecially interesting to the pupils. 

Hector and Andromache (38) 

This and the following selection are taken from A. J. 
Church's Story of the Iliad (Macmillan, Pocket Classics), 



62 THE TEACHING OF READING 

an admirable rendering for boys and girls. The language is 
simple and there is little need of analysis of phrases. Con- 
siderable attention, however, should be paid to the pro- 
nunciation of proper names and the identification of the 
various persons mentioned. 

The teacher may give a few rules for the pronunciation 
of classical names ; c like k except before e, i, and y ; ch 
like k ; final eus one syllable with long u. The proper 
pronunciations are indicated in the lists at the end of the 
selections. The pupils should read the lists, pronouncing 
the names correctly, until they are able to use the words 
readily. 

The list of deities given in the Helps to Study should 
not be memorized but should be used for reference. They 
should also be made the basis of discussion until they be- 
come familiar. 

The wonderful scene of the parting of Hector and Androm- 
ache is one of the most beautiful in all literature. After 
the teacher is satisfied that the class can read it under- 
standing^, she may pass on to question on the matters 
discussed in the Helps to Study. First, it is important 
that the class should master a brief outline of the main 
events of the Trojan war, such as is given in the Reader on 
p. 38. The story of the apple of discord and the judgment 
of Paris should be retold. Second,- as the pupils read this 
and the following selections of the group, they should get 
an increasing knowledge of Greek religion. Review ques- 
tions should recall the information given in the Reader on 
pp. 34-36. Third, attention should be called to the infor- 
mation given in the selections about the life and habits of 
these ancient times. For example, weapons are of bronze, 



SIXTH READER 63 

not steel ; even the princesses weave and spin ; and even 
Helen is found busy at household tasks. 

Of course, the main source of information on all these 
matters is the Iliad itself. There could be no better way 
to supplement this and the following selections than by 
reading of other episodes in the Trojan war either from 
A. J. Church's Story of the Iliad, or the Butcher-Lang 
Translation of the Iliad (both in Macmillan's Pocket Clas- 
sics). The stories of the apple of discord and the judg- 
ment of Paris, of Achilles' quarrel with Agamemnon should 
be recalled. 

The Duel of Hector and Ajax (48) 

This selection carries on the story of Hector, the chief 
defender and hope of Troy. Here the interest is in a fight, 
but there are many details describing the life of these peoples 
of long ago, their feasts and councils, and their ideas of bravery 
and honor. 

The Death of Hector (56) 

This famous passage is given in Bryant's blank verse 
translation. Blank verse consists of unrhymned pentameters, 
and in reading full value should be given to the lines and 
the measure. In addition to the pauses required by the 
sense, a pause should be made at the end of each line. It 
is better for the pupils to overdo this than to slur it. In 
giving full value to the five feet in each line, many syllables 
which would be slighted in conversation require accent, es- 
pecially final -ly. Proper names also require distinct enun- 
ciation, and full value should be given to all the vowel 
sounds. Final -ed pronounced as a separate syllable by 
poetic usage is marked ed in the text. 



64 THE TEACHING OF READING 

The long sentences will require special attention since the 
clauses and phrases are often given different positions from 
those which they would occupy in prose. Some parts of 
the selection should first be read aloud by the teacher as 
a guide to the class. 

An account of the life of William Cullen Bryant, with 
a portrait, is given in the Fifth Reader, pp. 193, 194. 

Topics for Oral or Written Composition. The Cause of 
the Trojan War. Priam and his City. Hector. Achilles. 
Andromache. Helen. 

Ulysses and the Cyclops, I, II (62) 

This famous adventure tells of cruel might overcome 
by craft. Like the story of " Hercules and the Golden 
Apples," it tells how a giant was tricked. The giant 
stories which were recalled in connection with that selec- 
tion may be again reviewed. It will be interesting to see 
how often the powerful and cruel monster proves a very 
stupid person and is defeated by craft. If a moral is to be 
drawn, it would seem to be that brains are mightier than 
muscle. At all events the imagination which peopled the 
unknown regions of the world with huge monsters also in- 
vented heroes who were brave and wise enough to outwit 
them. And the imagination has thus foreshadowed the 
progress of civilization. Crafty man has overthrown the 
fiercer beasts and subdued the most powerful forces of 
nature. 

If time permits, tell the class more of the adventures of 
Ulysses with Circe, or Nausicaa, or of his return home. 
Or, read them selections from Church's Story of the Odyssey, 



SIXTH READER 65 

or Lang, Leaf, and Myers's Translation (both in Macmil- 
lan's Pocket Classics Series). Or, read Tennyson's Ulysses, 
a splendid expression of daring adventure. 

Topics for Oral and Written Composition. The Story of 
the Odyssey. How to Conquer Giants. Some Modern 
Giants that Man has Slain by Craft. 

Some of the fabulous persons of Greek story might make 
topics for further discussion : nymphs, cyclops, sirens, 
fauns, satyrs, dryads, amazons. 

The Story of ^neas {76) 

Part I of the Story of iEneas completes the famous tale 
of Troy, and Part II, the Escape of iEneas, starts the 
hero on his long travels which are to end with the founding 
of Rome. The narrative of Virgil is full of events and per- 
sons which have become proverbial among educated people. 
The wooden horse, false Sinon, the Greeks bearing gifts, 
Laocoon, the faithful ^Eneas — these are phrases which 
" every schoolboy " used to understand. Nor are they 
merely phrases. Each one is a link which binds together 
the thought and feeling of many generations. Test the 
pupils on their own application of these phrases to persons 
and events in their own experience or reading. What other 
false Sinons do they know ? What other examples of filial 
devotion like that of ^Eneas ? 

With Part II of this selection we leave the world of Greece 
and Rome. The teacher may, however, find time to talk 
with the class about the history of Rome, — its rise from a 
mere village to a great nation, its long contest with its 
great rival, Carthage, the expansion of its power over 



66 THE TEACHING OF READING 

the entire Mediterranean region, and its final overthrow 
by the barbaric tribes from the Northern forests. 

Photographs may be used to illustrate the mighty ruins 
which still remain of the imperial city. As Byron says in 
the stanza on p. 75 of the Reader, the literature of Rome 
has outlived its empire and its buildings. Byron also ex- 
presses the belief that Rome was greater as a free republic 
than as an empire ruling over subject states. 

Topics for Oral and Written Composition. The Story of 
the Fall of Troy as told by Astyanax. As told by Creusa. 
What is Admirable in the Character of vEneas ? A Brief 
Account of the Trojan War. " The Glory that was 
Greece." " The Grandeur that was Rome." What do 
we know that the Greeks did not ? 

II. IN BIBLE LANDS 

The selections from the Bible should be treated in the 
class precisely like selections from other great literature. 
They are poems and stories presenting the records of a great 
civilization and the lives of great men. The " Twenty- 
Third Psalm " is one of the most beautiful poems in litera- 
ture. There is scarcely a story better told or more perfect 
in construction than that of " Joseph and his Brethren." 
In Daniel and Moses we have great leaders distinguished by 
wisdom and moral courage. The world has long enjoyed 
and profited by the literature of the Old Testament; and 
there is no part of the heritage of the race which can be 
better entered upon in childhood. 



SIXTH READER 67 

The Twenty-Third Psalm (96) 

Several matters set forth in the Helps to Study in the 
Reader may well be emphasized in order to secure a full 
appreciation of the selection by the class. First, it is a 
poem, though the English translation is not in verse. 
Second, the imagery of the shepherd caring for his flock 
is natural to a pastoral people. Third, there has been 
scarcely an hour since it was first written that this psalm 
has not been on the lips of some worshiper. 

How many of the class never saw a flock of sheep ? 
Millet's pictures of sheep offer perhaps the best commen- 
tary and appreciation of this psalm. 

In Bible Lands (97) 

This passage serves to explain and introduce the selec- 
tions of this group. It should be read by the class, and its 
contents reviewed from time to time in connection with 
the selections that follow. 

Joseph and His Brethren, Genesis XXVTI-XLV (99) 

This wonderful story may be read primarily as a story. 
As divided in the Reader each part is complete in itself 
and yet excites the expectation as to what is to follow. In 
Part I we are told of the cruel misfortune which came to 
Joseph and of his success in the Court of Egypt ; but we 
are left wondering what became of his father and brothers, 
how his dream of the sheaves is to come true, and what the 
years of plenty and of famine have to do with the story. 
In Part II we are told of the need of his brothers, their 
journey to Egypt, and of Joseph's kindness to them and 



68 THE TEACHING OF READING 

of his demand to see his own brother Benjamin; but 
we are left wondering what Joseph's plans are and un- 
certain what action he is going to take toward the wicked 
brothers. In Part III, the suspense is maintained until 
the very end when Joseph finally reveals himself and 
his purpose. 

The main plot should be followed and understood by the 
pupils, so that they can retell the story in outline without 
confusing events or interest. 

The story is also rich in minor incidents. These should 
not be permitted to confuse the pupils' clear understand- 
ing of the main story ; but they add greatly to its vivid- 
ness. Take, for example, the first paragraph. What do 
we learn about Jacob ? about Joseph ? about his coat ? 
about his brethren ? 

The story is well suited to analysis by the class, (i) into 
its main outline, (2) into the minor incidents which fill out 
the main story. 

The wisdom, uprightness, and affection of Joseph appear 
throughout the story and should be brought home to the 
class. The story tells of moral issues. At every stage 
Judah or Reuben or Joseph has a choice between opposite 
courses of action. The story at every turn depends on a 
moral choice. 

The Biblical proper names offer less difficulty than the 
Greek, but new names should be noted and pronounced 
when the lesson is first assigned for study. 

Topics for Oral and Written Composition. How they lived 
in Canaan. The Kingdom of Pharaoh. For what is 
Egypt famous ? The Character of Joseph. 



SIXTH READER 69 

The Burial of Moses, by Mrs. Alexander (118) 

The story of Moses should be told by pupils or teacher 
as a preparation to the reading of this poem. Its simple 
meter and finely sustained emotion fit it for recitation. 

Mrs. Cecil (Humphreys) Alexander (1818-1895) was 
a writer of both prose and verse. Her Hymns for Little 
Children proved to be one of the most popular volumes of 
the century, for it went through sixty-nine editions in less 
than fifty years. Some of her hymns, as " Once in royal 
David's city " and " There is a green hill far away," are 
sung wherever the English language is spoken. 

Belshazzar's Feast, Daniel V (122) 

The scene changes from Egypt and Palestine to Babylon. 
The class should find these places on a map, and something 
might be told them of the great civilizations that developed 
along the banks of the Nile and Euphrates. These two 
great rivers with their fertile plains afforded food in abun- 
dance and an opportunity for the arts to flourish. 

Upharsin (p. 126, 1. 4) and Peres (1. 7) are forms of the 
same word: Peres is the singular; Upharsin is the plural 
with the article attached. 

The Destruction of Sennacherib, by Lord Byron (127) 

George Noel Gordon, Lord Byron, was born in London, 
January 22, 1788. In 1809-1811 he traveled in the Mediter- 
ranean region and on his return to England published the 
first two cantos of " Childe Harold " ; and, as he said, awoke 
the next morning to find himself famous. From this time 
he wrote and published constantly. He was married in 



jo THE TEACHING OF READING 

1815 but his wife left him in the following year for some 
unexplained reason, and Byron abandoned England. The 
rest of his life was spent mainly in Italy, but in 1823 he 
joined the Greek revolutionists who were fighting for national 
independence, and was made commander-in-chief at Mis- 
solonghi, where he died of a fever April 19, 1824, barely 
thirty-six years of age. 

Byron's life and character have been much discussed 
and cannot be wholly commended. Macaulay's " Essay 
on Byron " is one of the best brief introductions to his 
work. As a poet Byron's popularity was enormous during 
his lifetime both in England and on the continent ; and his 
fame is secure. His energy, invention, and emotional force 
are everywhere manifest, and especially so in the poems 
written after 18 16. For young readers, his narrative poems 
" Mazeppa," the " Prisoner of Chillon," and the " Siege of 
Corinth " can be recommended. 

III. NORTHERN MYTHS 

The preceding groups of selections have given something 
of two of the great messages from the remote past to the 
present, that of Greece and Rome, and that of Palestine 
and the East. We now turn to the dawn of civilization in 
Northern Europe. It cannot be said that these Northern 
stories have had a large influence in modern literature com- 
parable with the writings of the Greeks or the Hebrews. On 
the other hand, these Northern myths, preserved in the 
literature of remote Iceland, represent the manners, habits, 
beliefs, and conceptions of life of the peoples who overran 
all Northern Europe and the British Isles and from whom 
has directly developed much in our modern civilization. 



SIXTH READER 71 

Resemblances between the Northern gods and those of 
Greece are many, and are noted in the Helps to Study. But 
the Northern tales have less highly developed morality than 
those of the Hebrews and a less refined imagination than 
those of the Greeks. They are more incongruous, more 
grotesque, more childish than either ; demand less intensive 
study from the point of view of either literature or morality. 
The selections in this group offer little difficulty for read- 
ing except that due to the strangeness of their material. 
They are like fairy stories to be read rapidly without too 
much scrutiny of manners and morals, but they are real 
and true fairy stories in the sense that they were repeated 
for centuries by men who believed them. The task of the 
teacher is (1) to supply the introduction necessary to over- 
come their strangeness and (2) to emphasize their impor- 
tance as revealing the thought and imagination of the peoples 
who have made much of our Europe and America. 

The proper names are not numerous or difficult but still 
require some special attention. 

The selections are arranged so that they form an orderly 
and fairly continuous account of the chief gods and heroes, 
beginning with the building of Asgard, continuing with the 
craft of Loki and the exploits of Thor, and ending with the 
career of Siegfried. 

Since all the selections of the group are in prose, it may be 
desirable to introduce here one or two of the poems that come 
later in the Reader, as the " Blind Men and the Elephant." 

Myths of the Northland (129) 

Like the selection " What Are the Greeks to Us ? " for the 
first group, and like the selection " In Bible Lands " (p. 97) 



72 THE TEACHING OF READING 

for the second group, so this selection gives an introduction 
and general comment for the third group. This selection 
should be read with careful attention to content and proper 
names, and these should be reviewed frequently in the course 
of reading the succeeding selections. 

Sif's Golden Hair and the Making of the Hammer (133) 

This story presents Odin, Thor, and Loki in character- 
istic actions. Its diction is simple and should offer no 
difficulty for the class. It may be read rapidly and should 
be sufficient to complete the introduction of the pupils to the 
chief personages of Asgard. 

How Thor Went to the Land of Giants, I, II (145) 

This story of giants has many resemblances to the tales 
of Hercules and Atlas (p. 24) and of Ulysses and Cyclops 
(p. 62) ; but here it is the giants who are clever and the 
venturesome hero who is outwitted. The story is an ex- 
cellent one ; and both its humor and its rapid succession of 
incidents can be appreciated readily in a rapid reading. 

The moral lies deeper. Like the Greek myths, this story 
celebrates the power of the great forces of Nature against 
which man struggles bravely but in vain. Fire and the 
Ocean, Thought and Old Age are the mighty adversaries 
which conquer the adventurous heroes. These are the real 
giants of the universe. 

The advance of civilization is marked in part by man's 
increasing power in his never-ending contests with these 
forces of Nature. This conception can be brought home to 
the class by many specific instances. Fire is as terrible a 



SIXTH READER 73 

devourer to-day as when it contested with Loki, but man 
has subdued it to his service. It warms our houses, cooks 
our food, gives the power that runs our mills and railroads. 
It is the giant that serves us in countless ways and keeps 
the very life in our bodies. The Ocean is still inexhaustible 
and overwhelming, but man sends his ships across its sur- 
face and through its depths. He has made it a servant to 
do his bidding and an aid in his progress. Thought is still 
swift, but man has found ways to assist its flight and enlarge 
its circuit. The printing press, the telegraph, and now the 
wireless have hurried Thought across new pathways and 
into new realms. Old Age still overthrows all men as she 
overthrew Thor, but man is beginning, through the aid of 
scientific medicine, to lengthen his years. In spite of the 
advice of Skrymir to Thor that he had better keep away 
from the Giants' Home, man has kept on traveling and 
struggling against whatever opposed him. 

Topics for Oral and Written Composition. Thor compared 
with Hercules. The Character of Loki. How Man has 
been victorious over Fire. The Ocean Now and in the 
Time of Thor. How we help Thought in its Travels. The 
Use of Traveling. 

Siegfried the Volsung (160) 

Siegfried is the national hero of Germany, as Achilles of 
Greece, Roland of France, and King Arthur of Britain. All 
of these heroes belong to legend and their deeds are mingled 
with wonders and enchantments. They also belong to times 
when enmities were matters to be settled by the sword. 
Their stories tell of feud, revenge, and battle to the death. 



74 THE TEACHING OF READING 

But amid all this fighting we find the virtues of kindness, 
generosity, loyalty, and magnanimity. 

Siegfried and Brynhild (170) 

For a full account of the exploits of Siegfried, read Kath- 
erine F. Boult's Heroes of the Norseland, or Emilie K. Baker's 
Stories from Northern Myths, or James Baldwin's Story of 
Siegfried. Brown's In the Days of the Giants, and Boyesen's 
Norseland Tales, and Mabie's Norse Myths may also be 
recommended to the class. 

IV. THE AGE OF CHIVALRY 

In the memorable stories and poems that make up this 
group the remote past yields place to medieval times, which 
in some conceptions of character and conduct are near our 
own day. While this group may be studied from at least 
three points of view, the first is necessarily historical. The 
pupils should be made to understand that Chivalry was a 
real and living thing and that it established certain ideals of 
conduct for many nations. To reenforce the historical aspect 
of Chivalry the well-known story of Chevalier Bayard, the 
Knight " sans peur et sans reproche," has been briefly 
sketched. The pupils should be encouraged to read for 
themselves this fascinating story in one of the many versions 
simplified for the young, as that by Christopher Hare. Let 
the children realize that " without fear and without re- 
proach " has become a common saying all over the civilized 
world. 

One need not stop with Bayard. Innumerable stories 
from history illustrate the practice of chivalric ideals. Sir 
Philip Sidney's generous act when he was lying mortally 



SIXTH READER 75 

wounded on the battle-field is a famous example. Lanier's 
Boy's Froissart offers a mine of good stories that may be read 
in this connection. 

But our selections, for the most part, belong to the realm 
of myth and legend. When the children ask if King Arthur 
ever lived, let them be told that we do not certainly know, 
but that stories about him were handed down from father to 
son in the old, old times. As the word Celtic is used in the 
Introduction to this group, the class should understand that 
it not only means the ancient peoples of Great Britain and 
France, but that it also includes the present-day Irish, the 
Highland Scots, the Welsh, and many of the French. 

The second point of view is moral. The lessons to be 
learned from the Age of Chivalry are all the more penetrative 
for being indirect. These are just the lessons that we most 
desire to see take root in our own new and practical America. 
They can easily be brought home. Every child can be 
made to see how right — and perhaps how fine — it is to 
tell the truth, to keep one's promise, to be brave, to stand up 
for the right, to protect the younger children from ill-treat- 
ment, to be fair in playing games and not to take advan- 
tage of one's opponent, to be gentle and courteous in one's 
manners. The class may be made to feel that the men and 
women who live up to these ideals make good American 
citizens. It hardly needs to be added that schools, churches, 
and other organizations have used the machinery of King 
Arthur's court by organizing Round Tables, the members 
of which are bound by promise to maintain some standard 
of thought, speech, or action. The moral glamour of chiv- 
alry, in very truth, still endures, although its outward 
splendor has passed away. 



76 THE TEACHING OF READING 

A third point of view from which this group will be enjoyed 
is simply as great literature. The stories from Sir Thomas 
Malory, especially " The Passing of Arthur," are told with 
such beauty of diction and rhythm that they clothe the 
subject like a garment, and there is no better illustration of 
Scott's leisurely, detailed, and convincing manner than the 
first chapter of The Talisman. The selections from Tenny- 
son are likewise notable. " The Lady of Shalott " ranks very 
high in his work, and " Sir Galahad " would be famous if only 
for the two lines that have almost passed into a proverb. 

The literature of chivalry, historical and imaginative, 
in prose and poetry, is very large. The story of King 
Arthur and his knights, in particular, has never ceased to 
fascinate writers and readers. Not only Tennyson and 
Swinburne but also William Morris and Matthew Arnold 
felt its charm. In the realm of art, Abbey has told us in 
glowing colors the story of Sir Galahad's life, and Watts's 
picture of the young knight hangs in many a schoolroom. 

The Adventure of Sir Gareth (183) 

This selection, somewhat altered by A. J. Church for 
young readers, is from Le Morte Darthur, the first great 
story book in English prose. Sir Thomas Malory, an English- 
man who lived in the fifteenth century, took the stories 
from the French and therefore kept the French names, but 
he made a whole out of his tales, from whatever source, 
and put them into the most musical English prose that had 
yet been written. Lanier's Boy's King Arthur, Bulfinch's 
Age of Chivalry, and Church's Heroes of Chivalry and 
Romance make Malory available for school children. 

After a careful reading of the story of Bayard, the class 



SIXTH READER yy 

will come to " The Adventure of Sir Gareth " with some 
knowledge of the customs of Chivalry. All details of 
equipment and modes of fighting are important, for they will 
pave the way for reading Scott and the history of the period. 
But the first emphasis should be put upon the story. Prob- 
ably the only difficulty will be in connection with Lynette. 
The class should not be allowed to forget that to her Gareth 
is actually only a kitchen boy unfit to rescue her sister from 
great peril, and that, though she watches him overthrow 
Sir Kay, she has apparently ridden on too far to see him 
joust with Sir Lancelot and receive knighthood from him. 
The lessons of the story will have a special appeal to Ameri- 
can children, for Gareth is a prince who wishes to become a 
knight because of his worth, not because of his rank, and he 
practices a soldier's obedience in the kitchen, — doing base 
work and mixing cheerfully with his inferiors. His gay 
acceptance of good and bad words from the lady he serves 
is a chivalric trait, as well as his physical and moral cour- 
age, his courtesy to his enemies, and his horror of dishonor- 
able knighthood. The great knights of the Round Table, 
Sir Lancelot and Sir Gawaine, understand his character from 
the beginning. Sir Kay, loyal though he is to King Arthur, 
is an inferior knight because he lacks courtesy. 

Tennyson's version of the story of Gareth in the Idylls of 
the King is perhaps too intricate for most children on 
account of the large amount of allegory, but the more 
advanced students might enjoy it. 

The Lady of Shalott, by Alfred Tennyson (214) 

This famous and beautiful poem was written by Lord 
Tennyson when he was a young man. It tells a story of 



78 THE TEACHING OF READING 

Celtic magic with almost Celtic beauty. It will introduce 
to the children the greatest of King Arthur's knights in all 
his outward splendor and in his gentleness of heart. It gives, 
besides, a brief picture of wayfaring life in medieval days, 
and in it, Camelot, the royal city, comes into view. First 
of all, the exquisite story must be clearly understood. Then 
the emphasis may be upon the pictures with which the poem 
is crowded. And, with the teacher's aid, the poem should be 
read and re-read, not as a task but as a reward and pleasure, 
until all the class realize that the piece is music as well as 
story. To their knowledge of Chivalry it adds a detailed 
account of the equipment of a knight and his horse. If the 
class wish to know more about Camelot, some of the fine 
descriptions in Tennyson's " Gareth and Lynette " might be 
used. As Sir Lancelot does not appear again in our selec- 
tions, Malory's summary of his character in the last chapter 
of the last book of Morte Darthur might be read to the class. 

The Passing of Arthur, by Sir Thomas Malory (225) 

This selection, taken almost unchanged from Malory, 
shows his style at its best. If it is dramatized, as it might 
be, care should be taken to keep the very words of the 
author. For the same reason, the story should be read aloud 
with as little comment as possible, and care should be taken 
to preserve the lovely rhythms. Only in this selection is 
attention centered on King Arthur, and it might be well to 
find out what the children already know about him. They 
will enjoy hearing how he received Excalibur, told in Morte 
Darthur, Book I, chapter 23. The teacher herself will 
enjoy comparing Tennyson's version of the same story in 



SIXTH READER 79 

his " Morte d'Arthur " and noticing how closely he follows 
Malory. One point in the story may need elucidation — 
the fact that the knights wore their wealth upon their bodies, 
not in the form of money, but in the shape of jewels, beads, 
or brooches. If a lesson is sought for, it may be found in 
the story believed by the Celtic people of Great Britain that 
Arthur, the perfect king, would return some day to give 
them just government, or in the more general truth that the 
good a man does lives after death. Although king and 
knights have perished, the memory of their valor and good- 
ness still urges us on to emulate them. 

Sir Galahad, by Tennyson (233) 

This fine poem by Lord Tennyson introduces a late and 
non-Celtic theme. The children should not be confused 
with theories about the Holy Grail. Malory and Tennyson 
are their best guides, according to whom it is the cup that 
was used at the Last Supper and that received the blood 
from Christ's side when he was on the cross. It was taken 
to Britain, but disappeared from earth when men became 
very wicked. The knights of the Round Table have under- 
taken the quest of the Grail as they undertook other adven- 
tures. The poem assumes so much information that 
Malory's account of the Siege Perilous and Sir Galahad, 
Morte Darthur, Book XIII, chap. 4, might be read by way 
of introduction. To this might be added Tennyson's 
lovely description of the holy vessel, put into the mouth of 
Sir Percival's sister, The Holy Grail, beginning at 1. 106, 
" And, O my brother Percival." This might later be sup- 
plemented by Galahad's description of the Grail as it looked 



80 THE TEACHING OF READING 

to him, beginning at 1. 463, and, as a conclusion to the story, 
what follows should be told or read to the class. The lesson 
is summed up in the third and fourth lines, but the class will 
need to be reminded that Sir Galahad has first been a good 
knight, punishing the wicked and defeating King Arthur's 
enemies, before he sets out to seek the Holy Grail. 

Topics for Oral and Written Compositions. What is meant 
by Knighthood ? King Arthur and his Round Table. Life 
of Tennyson. The Ideals of Chivalry. A Few Famous 
Knights. 

The Knight and the Saracen, by Sir Walter Scott (237) 

This selection may serve as an introduction to the novels 
of Scott, at least to the more advanced pupils, who should 
be ready for Quentin Durward, one of Scott's most direct 
romances. S. R. Crockett's Red Cap Stories simplify Scott 
for those not ready for the novels themselves. 

Chapter 27 of The Talisman may be recommended to the 
class. It contains the account of the trial of the broad- 
sword wielded by King Richard the Lionhearted and the 
scimitar wielded by Saladin the Saracen. Chapters 20 and 
21 will be interesting to those who wish to know more about 
the Knight of the Couchant Leopard. 

Heroes of chivalry not before mentioned include St. Louis, 
king of France, who was the last of the crusaders. Chivalry, 
by F. Warre Cornish, is a valuable book for the teacher. 
J. H. Robinson has a chapter on the Crusades in his Introduc- 
tion to the History of Western Europe, which should be in 
every school library. Guizot's History of France Told to my 
Grandchildren is full of good stories about our period. 



SIXTH READER 81 

V. OUR COUNTRY (247) 

The introduction in the Reader should be read by the 
class and used as the basis of discussion. The meaning 
of patriotism can best be defined for boys and girls in the 
words and deeds of great Americans. The selections have 
been chosen with a view to a unity of effect. The " Ship 
of State " makes a vivid picture suggesting the meaning of 
patriotism. The account of Washington's youth and Jef- 
ferson's estimate of his character introduce the father of his 
country. The struggle for national independence and the 
birth of the nation are recalled by the address of John Adams 
and by Emerson's poem on the Concord monument. The 
great debate on union is represented by the speech of Webster 
and the poem of Holmes. The ever memorable words of 
Lincoln celebrate the end of the war and announce the great 
democratic ideal of our republic. Finally, Kipling's " Reces- 
sional " sounds the need of humility amid national exultation. 

These selections are naturally grouped together ; some are 
suited for reading on special occasions, as Washington's or 
Lincoln's birthday. The teacher may find it convenient to 
read them from time to time, rather than together ; but in 
any case it will be well to call attention to their significance 
as a group. 

The speeches of Adams, Webster, and Lincoln are well 
suited to recitation. The " Ship of State," the " Concord 
Hymn," and the " Gettysburg Address " should be com- 
mitted to memory. 

The Ship of State, by Longfellow (249) 

Passages from the " Building of the Ship " might be read 
to the class, so as to give the setting for this final apostrophe 



82 THE TEACHING OF READING 

to the Ship of State. The passage should be memorized 
by the class. 

It is important for the teacher to realize the part she has 
in building and guiding the ship of state. The one discipline 
to which every citizen is subject is that of the school ; and 
the school is the one place where our American national ideals 
may be taught to all. 

The Early Life of Washington, by J. S. C. Abbott (251) 

The notes in the Reader give some of the best known Lives, 
but there is of course a vast amount of biographical matter 
about Washington. The lesson may afford an opportunity 
to direct the reading of the class in biography. No books are 
better suited to boys and girls of the upper grades than clearly 
written lives of great men and women. Unfortunately the 
number of biographies well suited to young readers is none too 
large. John S.C.Abbott (1 805-1 877), the author of this selec- 
tion, wrote a large number of biographies for boys that have a 
wide circulation. They are still good reading but they are 
perhaps proving a little old-fashioned for the youth of to-day. 

An interesting series, True Stories of Great Americans, now 
in process (Macmillan), promises to offer excellent reading 
about a long list of distinguished men and women. 

Whenever the reading lesson permits, a brief talk about the 
life of some famous man is in order. This might well be 
accompanied by references to any good biographies available 
in the local libraries. 

The Character of Washington, by Thomas Jefferson (258) 

Jefferson writes with care, and his tribute to Washington 
is especially interesting, for the two men though closely 



SIXTH READER 83 

associated were very different in temperament. Jefferson 
had more of the inventive and penetrative mind in which he' 
finds Washington inferior to Sir Isaac Newton, the discoverer 
of the law of gravitation, to Lord Bacon, the chief founder of 
modern experimental science, and to John Locke, the founder 
of the " sensational " philosophy of which Jefferson himself 
was a follower. On the other hand, Jefferson pays full 
tribute to Washington's judgment, prudence, and self-control, 
qualities in which few men were his equals. Possibly Jefferson 
underestimates the warmth of Washington's affections. 

The selection has been included because of the great interest 
attaching to the estimate of one great man by another. It 
offers difficulties in words and phrases and should be read 
carefully. Each paragraph should be summarized in the 
class, and the Glossary should be freely consulted. 

Topics for Oral and Written Composition. Patriotism. 
The Builders of the Ship of State. Thomas Jefferson. 
Washington's Boyhood. My Estimate of the Character of 
Washington. 

The Concord Hymn, by Ralph Waldo Emerson (262) 

In connection with this and the following selection, the 
events that led to our Revolutionary War may be discussed 
in the class. " Paul Revere's Ride " might be re-read and 
the circumstances which led to the battle of Concord. In 
addition to making sure that the historical facts are known 
by the class, the world-wide importance of the fight at Concord 
bridge should be emphasized. Nations had defended their 
independence before this, as in the memorable struggle of 
Holland against Spain ; but for the first time a colony broke 



84 THE TEACHING OF READING 

free from the mother state and created a nation. More- 
over, this nation was created a republic, without king or 
nobility or state church. The shot was indeed heard round 
the world ; for how many peoples since then have won their 
independence. Some discussion such as this will prepare 
the class to realize the full significance of Emerson's Hymn. 

Supposed Speech of John Adams (264) 

This is an old favorite for declamation, and may be studied 
in connection with the events leading to the Revolutionary 
War or with the Declaration of Independence itself. 

Liberty and Union, by Daniel Webster (270) 

In connection with Webster's great peroration, it will be 
interesting to read Henry W. Grady's address on the •" New 
South" (1886), which ended with a reaffirmation of Web- 
ster's sentiment made forty years earlier. " We should re- 
main united as we have been for sixty years, citizens of the 
same country, members of the same government, all united 
now and united forever." 

Union and Liberty, by Oliver Wendell Holmes (273) 

This selection serves as a supplement to the preceding, 
and may also be used for declamation. An account of the 
life of Holmes is given on page 330 of the Reader. 

The Address at Gettysburg, by Abraham Lincoln (275) 
This immortal address should be committed to memory. 

Topics for Oral and Written Composition. The Declara- 
tion of Independence. " In union there is strength." 
Boyhood of Abraham Lincoln. 



SIXTH READER 85 

Good biographies of Lincoln for younger readers are 
Baldwin's, Scudder's, Hapgood's. See also Miss Tarbell's 
Father Abraham and He Knew Lincoln, and Mary R. S. 
Andrews's The Perfect Tribute. 

Recessional, by Rudyard Kipling (279) 

Rudyard Kipling was born of English parents at Bombay, 
India, in 1865. Few living men have a wider fame. His 
stories and poems of life in India won him a multitude of 
readers when he was still in the twenties ; and additional 
books have increased his reputation and multiplied his 
readers. He lived for some years in the United States, but 
has now made his home for many years in England. In 
1907 he was awarded the Xobel prize for literature. 

Among his books best suited to younger readers are : 
The Jungle Book, The Second Jungle Book, Stalky and 
Co., Just So Stories for Little Children, Puck of Rook's Hill, 
and Rewards and Fairies. The class would also enjoy se- 
lections from Captains Courageous and Kim. 

VI. TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE 

This group includes two stories of adventure from fiction and 
one account of travel from fact. The two stories are from old 
favorites, Robinson Crusoe and the Arabian Nights, selections from 
both of which have appeared in earlier Readers. The account 
of travel is from a book which the pupils should read some day, 
Dana's Two Years Before the Mast. 

Robinson Crusoe and his Man Friday, by Daniel Defoe (281) 

In a volume which records the deeds of so many of the heroes of 
the world's literature — Hercules, Hector, Ulysses, Joseph, Daniel, 
Thor, Siegfried, Launcelot, and Galahad — a place must certainly 



86 THE TEACHING OF READING 

be reserved for Robinson Crusoe. Almost every one has at some 
time wondered, " What should I do if shipwrecked on an unknown 
island ? " Defoe's immortal fiction answers the question. The 
selection in the Reader tells of one of the great triumphs of Defoe's 
invention — civilized man encounters the savage, Robinson 
Crusoe rescues Friday. Millions of boys and girls have read 
the story before your pupils. 

The selection should be easy reading, and most of the class 
must already have made the acquaintance of Robinson Crusoe in 
earlier Readers. Possibly you could arrange for a Robinson 
Crusoe Day, with readings and oral compositions on the chief 
incidents of the novel. A brief note on Defoe may be found on 
page 23 of this Manual. 

Topics for Oral and Written Compositions. What I like Best in 
Robinson Crusoe. How he Built his House. His Parrot. What 
he Brought from the Ship. What Became of Friday. 

Robinson Crusoe's Island, by R. H. Dana (289) 

This should be read in connection with the preceding selection. 
It is a good example of straightforward narrative. 

Richard Henry Dana (1815-1882) was distinguished as a 
lawyer and publicist as well as an author. His fame, however, is 
likely to rest on his Two Years Before the Mast, written as the 
outcome of a voyage taken for his health in 1834-1836. It is one 
of the best records we have of the old days of sailing ships. 

Other Books of Travel for Boys and Girls. Bullen's Cruise of 
the Cachalot, Butterworth's Story of Magellan, Ingersoll's Book 
of the Ocean, Jacob's Story of Geographical Discovery, Schwatka's 
Children of the Cold, Jenks's Boy's Book of Explorations- 

The Story of the Fisherman, from the Arabian Nights (298) 

This is from another old favorite, the Arabian Nights. The 
selection gives the first and one of the most interesting of the one 
thousand and one tales. The pupils may be called upon to tell 



SIXTH READER 87 

the stories which they already know from the Arabian Nights, as 
those of Sindbad and Aladdin. 



VII. POEMS, GRAVE AND GAY 

The poems in this section may be read as a group or one at a 
time. 

The questions in the Helps to Study have been framed to ask 
definite questions only. Many a schoolboy dreads a poem be- 
cause he cannot give an outline of it as he can of a story or a bit 
of history. He should not be asked to do so. The thread of the 
story, however thin, may indeed be stressed. So may the pic- 
tures and the lessons, only the teacher should see, in the latter 
case, that the right lessons are noted. When possible, relate the 
poems to other poems on similar subjects or by the same au- 
thor. In connection with " To a Waterfowl " and " The Cloud," 
recall the poems on birds, flowers, and other outdoor things. 
Make the bored schoolboy feel that poetry is one form of music 
and that he will be like a deaf person if he cannot learn to un- 
derstand it. If a particular poem is really difficult, the teacher 
will naturally smooth the way, before the class undertake to 
study it. 

Changes of method are especially desirable in the teaching of 
poetry. Startle the child into attention. One teacher asked her 
class to select a famous phrase from Browning's " Home Thoughts 
from Abroad " — a phrase so perfect, she said, that no poet had 
been able to improve upon it. The next day seventy boys and 
girls were talking about that phrase as eagerly as if it had been a 
football game, and seventy minds knew every word of Browning's 
poem. It is wise to encourage any sign of appreciation, and not 
to press too hard the wherefore and the why. Give as much 
credit to the child who reads with attention to meter and rhyme 
as to the child who can explain the sense. Praise the agreeable 
voice and show those who have high-pitched voices how to lower 
and deepen them. The teacher should, of course, give her classes 
the benefit of her own trained and sympathetic voice by reading 



88 THE TEACHING OF READING 

aloud passages of special beauty or the whole of a poem. Per- 
haps, like those who make their living by the use of the voice, 
she will find it worth while to practice the reading at home. 

One unobtrusive way of making children intimate with great 
poetry is to return to it from time to time, to use it as sight read- 
ing without question or comment, to go back to " The Lady of 
Shalott," let us say, as a reward for some work well done, to give 
the individual child frequent opportunity to read or recite a_ fa- 
vorite stanza. Palgrave's Golden Treasury of Songs and Lyrics 
should be upon the teacher's desk, where the class can borrow it 
during a leisure moment. Macmillan has a twenty-five-cent 
edition. 

A Psalm of Life, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (308) 

This poem, compact of wise sayings, was written in 1838 and 
soon became popular in many languages. The only way to know 
it is to commit it to memory and to keep it alive by frequent quo- 
tation, either as a whole or in parts. In connection with the last 
line of the poem, Milton's sonnet on his blindness might be read. 
Longfellow's " Bridge " may also be used as a pendant to the 
" Psalm." 

To a Waterfowl, by William Cullen Bryant (311) 

This beautiful and melodious poem is perhaps the masterpiece 
of the earliest of our great American poets (1794-1878). It should 
be read slowly with delicate attention to the punctuation. A 
rather strong pause at the end of the third line helps to bring out 
the cadences of the fourth. The class would probably enjoy hear- 
ing or reading Bryant's " The Yellow Violet " and his lines 
" To the Fringed Gentian." In these poems, as well as in the 
famous " Thanatopsis " and much other verse, Bryant is very 
happy in suggesting the cool, shy, austere beauties of New Eng- 
land. He was born in a Massachusetts hill town and studied 
at Williams College nestled among the mountains. In the Fifth 
Reader, p. 193, there is a note on his long and useful life. The 



SIXTH READER 89 

class will recall the poems earlier read, — " The Planting of the 
Apple Tree," " Robert of Lincoln," and the " Song of Marion's 
Men." 

The Cloud, by Percy Bysshe Shelley (313) 

Shelley's short life (1792-1822) was animated by love of beauty 
and of liberty and by the desire for social reform. All these ideas 
and many more he put into exquisite lyrics or into narrative poems 
or into plays. His friendship for Byron finds record there and 
so does his love of Greek mythology and his intimacy with Italian 
landscape and life. Many of his best songs are found in Pal- 
grave's Golden Treasury. His " Ode to the Skylark," " The 
Sensitive Plant," and " To Night " are not too hard for poetry- 
loving boys and girls, but perhaps the magnificent " Ode to the 
West Wind " should be reserved till later. 

In teaching " The Cloud," one should avoid the easy error of 
converting it into a lesson in physical geography. The emphasis 
should be upon its imaginative clothing of natural phenomena. 
If a lesson is needed, it may be found in the obvious joy with which 
the cloud does its work — a thoroughly Wordsworthian doctrine. 
Unless the class have learned to read poetry with their ears, their 
attention should be strongly directed to the internal rhymes. 

The Bells, by Edgar Allan Poe (316) 

This poem tells no story. It enumerates and imitates the glad, 
sad, mad, and bad ringing of bells. It is a night piece and the 
last stanza reaches a climax of terror in the supernatural. All 
the bells except those in the first stanza might be church bells. 
The class will enjoy tracing the rhymes in the intricate stanzas 
and picking out the imitative words. When the poem is read 
aloud, some care should be exercised to keep it from degenerating 
with an orgy of elocution. The class will assuredly enjoy " The 
Raven," too ; and if they are curious about Poe's short stories, 
they may be advised to read " A Descent into the Maelstrom " 
or " The Pit and the Pendulum." 



90 THE TEACHING OF READING 

The Deacon's Masterpiece, by Oliver Wendell Holmes (324) 

This poem should be read first for its story and its humor, but 
it conveys one obvious lesson — that even humble work beauti- 
fully done rises to the level of art and is a joy to its maker. 

The exaggerated dialect of the poem may need to be inter- 
preted, and the technical parts of the " shay " should be under- 
stood though not too much insisted upon. 

The Blind Men and the Elephant, by John G. Saxe (333) 

This poem, by an American poet, journalist, and lecturer (1816- 
1887), is so simple that it might be read without preparation. 
The lesson is that the blind cannot see aright. It may easily be 
developed into the moral that we can all have seeing minds if we 
exercise them enough. 



VIII. THE CHILDHOOD OF DAVID COPPERFIELD, BY 
CHARLES DICKENS (336) 

The four selections from David Copperfield are chosen so as to 
form a continuous narrative of David's childhood. They include 
the entire history of Barkis's courtship and marriage of Peggotty, 
and give descriptions of David's home, Mr. Creakle's school, and 
Mr. Peggotty's house that was a boat. Of the many accounts of 
childhood in fiction there is none more appealing than that of 
David Copperfield, and these selections include some of the most 
pathetic as well as some of the most amusing incidents. 

The selections make the longest narrative in the book and 
introduce the largest number of characters. There is ample chance 
for expressive and dramatic reading. 

Each of the four selections tells a story by itself, and may be 
treated as a separate lesson. Preliminary drill on the lists For 
Study with the Glossary will be desirable, and the meaning of 
each selection cannot be mastered without considerable atten- 
tion to the vocabulary. 



SIXTH READER 91 

After the selections have been treated separately, they should 
be read rapidly aloud in the class, so that the entire story may be 
brought before the class. This will be a good time to discuss the 
characters and their qualities. If time permits, the teacher may 
tell more of the story of David Copperfield, or other selections 
may be read. For example, Chapter III, which tells of David's 
first visit to the Peggotty house boat ; the last part of Chapter 
XIII, which tells of David's running away and of his arrival 
at his aunt's, Miss Betsy Trotwood ; Chapter XIV, which 
tells of the discomfiture of the Murdstones and of David's first 
start in life. 

The account of Dickens in the Reader should be made the basis 
of further discussion in the class. The standard biography of 
Dickens is by his friend John Forster. 



IX. PORTIA'S SUITORS, BY SHAKESPEARE (376) 

These scenes from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice are care- 
fully abridged and arranged so as to present a little play by them- 
selves containing the entire story of Portia and her suitors. The 
scenes may be taken in the usual manner as reading lessons ; and 
in addition, if time permits, they may be used as a play to be 
acted by the class. In any case, careful reading should precede 
the acting. 

The Scenes as Literature to be Read. The scenes form a 
serial story like the " Childhood of David Copperfield." Each 
scene should be studied and read by itself, and then all the scenes 
read so that the entire story can be brought before the class. In 
addition to the usual Helps to Study, special notes on words 
and phrases have been provided. The text of Shakespeare offers 
difficulties because of Elizabethan vocabulary and syntax. All 
such difficulties are explained under the Notes on Words and 
Phrases for each scene. These Notes should be used as helps 
to study and reading but not for rigid drill. The pupil should gain 
from the Notes a full understanding of the selections, but should 
not be expected to acquire knowledge of Elizabethan usage. 



92 THE TEACHING OF READING 

The proper names occurring in each scene are listed in the Helps 
to Study, with their pronunciation. 

The class has had some experience in reading blank verse 
(" Death of Hector," p. 56) and should be encouraged to give full 
value to the five accents in each line and to the metrical pauses 
at the end of the lines. 

The content of the scenes gives ample opportunity for class 
discussion. The story itself is not told by direct narrative but 
through action and speech, so considerable care is necessary to 
make sure that all the class understand clearly the circumstances 
and progress of the action. The persons are presented at important 
moments in their lives, but disclose themselves only in brief 
speeches. Yet the master dramatist has made each speech so 
revealing that we at once form an idea of the speaker's character. 
What ideas do the pupils form of Portia, of Morocco, of Bassanio, 
and the others ? Are their ideas faulty or vague because of in- 
attention, or because of some not unnatural misunderstanding of 
the language ? Care should be taken that they understand the 
more striking traits of each of the dramatis personce. 

The story of the caskets may be used as an introduction to the 
entire play, the Merchant of Venice. The main story may be 
told and selections from the play read to the class by the teacher. 
Further, something may be told the class of Shakespeare, of the 
time when he lived, of the theater for which he wrote, and of the 
ever increasing admiration with which the world reads his dramas. 
Any good edition of the play, as that in the Tudor Shakespeare 
(one volume for each play), will supply the teacher with infor- 
mation. An account of Shakespeare, his time, and his theater 
will be found in Neilson and Thorndike's The Facts about Shake- 
speare (Macmillan). 

The Scenes as Drama to be Acted. The extent to which 
" Portia's Suitors " is to be treated as a play must be determined 
by the teacher. It would seem clear, however, that even while 
reading the scenes as literature, considerable attention should be 
given to them as drama. For example, the stage directions should 
be carefully noted, and passages should be read with regard to the 
character of the person supposed to be speaking them. An assign- 



SIXTH READER 93 

mentof the parts to different pupils and a dramatic reading would 
seem necessary in order to bring the full meaning of the scenes to 
the class. If the assignment of Portia's part is changed with each 
scene, a fair number of the class can be employed in this reading. 

If the teacher wishes to go farther, the suggestions that follow 
may aid her in arranging for a more complete presentation. 

The Stage and the Scene. The front of the classroom will 
answer for a stage. The place is always "a room in Portia's house," 
and needs no scenery. A chair or two and a table are sufficient 
furniture. No front curtain is required, and there was none in 
Shakespeare's theater. 

Properties. The principal properties are : the caskets, the 
curtain concealing them, and the scrolls and pictures within. 
The pupils will easily procure something that will serve for these. 

Acting. Such training in acting as will be helpful to the pupil 
is not very extensive but should involve some of the following im- 
portant particulars : entering a room, leaving the stage, taking 
a seat or rising, holding oneself erect, crossing from one side of the 
stage to the other, standing at ease. In impersonation, the pu- 
pils should be encouraged to enter into the characters as fully and 
freely as possible. Exaggeration of qualities, as Portia's merri- 
ment or Arragon's pride, should be preferred to a lukewarm presen- 
tation. Niceties of interpretation cannot be expected. 

All Together. One of the main purposes of dramatic work in 
the school is to arouse a common interest. Instead of a lesson 
which the pupil is to learn for himself, the play supplies a class 
enterprise in which every one has a concern. The giving of a 
play is a success or a failure as it arouses or fails to arouse this 
class unity. 

The performance of scenes or plays from Shakespeare may usu- 
ally be reserved for the upper grades or the high school ; but a 
little experience by younger boys and girls will prove an interest- 
ing practice and an excellent introduction to a further acquaint- 
ance with Shakespeare's poetry. 



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